I’ve always LOVED music. Dad used to tell me that if I could put lyrics to my homework I’d make much better grades. I tried, but it didn’t work. 🙂
Certain songs stir specific memories of a time and place, don’t they? Here are several that came to mind within a few minutes (scary, I know):
- Frank Sinatra’s,”It Was A Very Good Year” – My earliest memory of music. Uncle Bud sang this to me upstairs in my grandparent’s home while packing for California one day. I was around 7 or 8 years old.
- Elton John’s, “Your Song” – another early memory from the 70’s. My cousin, Billy, who passed away several years ago, played this song over and over while visiting my grandmother. I was only 8 or 9 at the time but I remember loving the idea of a song being a gift (lyrics) and sitting on a roof, kicking off the moss 🙂
- Chicago’s “I’ve Been Searchin’ So Long” (1974) – The radio was playing this song as we drove to my Aunt Shirley’s home after attending my great-grandmother’s funeral. I remember gazing out the window as we passed by my future Junior High School in Fairforest and listening to the lyrics. I couldn’t tell you the day of the funeral if my life depended on it but this song immediately takes me back to that drive home.
- Minnie Riperton’s, “Loving You” (1975) – In my kitchen on Oakleaf Drive in Spartanburg, at the age of 13. It was a beautiful sunny day and the song seemed to match it perfectly. I loved the melody, but didn’t understand all the lyrics. That’s a good thing.
- Chris Tomlin’s “Amazing Grace” – this song played on the radio as I returned home from my grandmother’s funeral. How fitting.
- And last, but not least, every time I watch the Mary Tyler Moore show (yes, I still watch it – love it!) and hear the theme song, written by Paul Williams, I am immediately taken back to the early 70’s, watching it as a 9 or 10 year old, and marveling over how much Mary reminded me of my mom at the time. She, too, was newly independent, thin with a winsome smile and might I add, very capable of throwing a cap up in the air just for the fun of it. I can’t help but smile every single time I hear the theme song. 🙂 Can you blame me?
Well, I’m not sure why I’ve always seemed to mark milestones with music, but that’s what has obviously happened over the years. One day soon, I’ll post some of the many songs God has used to minister to me along the way. There are so many that I can’t begin to comprehend them at this time of night. 🙂
What about you? Are there specific songs that take you back to a place in time?