Music brings the memories

This past snowy weekend, we decided to watch a few movies together.  We settled on a good old comedy and sat down to share in the laughter and hilariousness of the movie "Tommy Boy".  About halfway through the film, there is a scene where David and Chris sing along to the song Superstar by The Carpenters.  I began singing along to it and commented how much I loved The Carpenters.  Of course Libby and Carter both had never heard of them and Libby talked about the music from my younger years.  I explained that I was more of an '80's kid than '70's, but of course that meant nothing because she had still never heard of the Carpenters.  That song that night led me to download their Gold: Greatest Hits album to my iTunes.

All this week I have driven to work, singing along with Karen Carpenter at the top of my lungs.  I will never cease to be amazed at some of their hits and her singing talent.  I know I sound like my parents when I say, "they just don't have to sing like they used to", but it is so true.  These older artists didn't have the luxury of auto tuners and the many other ways that current artists can hide in the digital era.  Karen could sing.

But it isn't just the amazing vocals, the catchy melodies, or the rhythm that sucks me into these old songs.  It's the memories that flood back when I hear them.  I grew up in a musical family.  Music is a part of almost every memory I have, from my earliest memories until today.  As early as I can remember my dad and I were singing together.  One of the first songs I remember from my childhood is "Side by Side", I can still sing it by heart.  My mom used to tell stories of how I would stand on the pickup seat next to my dad (it was the 70's - I survived, don't panic) as he drove between farms and we would sing it at the top of our lungs.  My other early memories center around following my dad to barbershop quartet/chorus practices, performances and contests.  I still know the words to virtually every old barbershop standard.  And for fun, one day while shopping "Hello Mary Lou" came on.  I was instantly transported back to watching my dad in that white splatter painted tuxedo, competing for a district championship.  I'm not ashamed to that I burst into song while picking out my groceries.

I loved every minute of that barbershop life.  My favorite were the contests.  Where you were literally surrounded by music 24/7.  Every elevator ride or group hanging out in the hallway would find 4 guys for each part and sing a tag, or an old standby.  I knew them all and then some.  I couldn't get enough of 4 part harmony and I'll be honest that I still have a few barbershop songs loaded in my iTunes to sing along with.  If I ever get a tape player again, I need to find that tape of my dad singing with his quartet...

I'm also not ashamed to say that The Carpenters have me reminiscing each day about growing up.  Each time she starts in with "Close to You",  I'm transported back to my loft bedroom (after my sister kicked me out of her room), playing that Carpenters album on my record player.   Between Karen and Leslie Gore, I about wore those two albums out.  My parents had a lot of other records, but those two ladies and I sang it out on that rust colored shag carpet.  I can still see the yellow vinyl dining room table chairs, that God awful patterned carpet, the hook rugs in shades of rust and brown hanging on the walls and so much more.

And they aren't the only artists with the power to take me back.  Air Supply reminds me of the roller skating rink, Garth Brooks's "Friends in Low Places" time travels me to the back of Georgio's and Tanya Tucker's "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane" has me in a car singing along with my wannabe cowgirl friends after a high school football game.  There are too many memories and songs connected to those memories to even begin to list them all here.  (College and Enya, Green Day, Shania Twain, Dixie Chicks.......the list goes on and on.)

It isn't just distant memories that songs have the power to bring back.  So many Disney songs and, oh yes - that Barbie soundtrack, remind me of the many miles my girls and I have traveled together, singing along with Hercules, Spirit and so many more.  My girls have been surrounded by music since they were born too.  Even before they remember, when I spent those precious moments in the middle of the night, I sang to them.  Some of them were probably not your traditional lullabies.  A couple of my favorites were Ragtime Lullaby, All the Pretty Little Horses and Two Little Boys.  The latter being a song about two brothers that go off to war.  It was on a barbershop record I listened to as a kid and for some reason, I used that tune to sing my girls to sleep.  I blame it on the sleep deprivation.

There are songs that bring sadness and memories of saying goodbye to our loved ones, "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "How Great Thou Art" will forever bring my mom's funeral crashing back.  Some songs bring back memories of people who hurt us or made promises they couldn't keep. Yet other songs bring back happier moments and never cease to bring a smile to my face.  Thanks to Sophie, "I Won't Say I'm in Love" will forever make me giggle.  And I will never forget the image of my dad on a ladder, rewallpapering our living room and singing along to Cindi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".  Of course he thought she was gonna "test the water", when she was actually trying to tell us that "they just wanna".

I've sung and I will sing along to everything from classics of the 1950's and '60's to the current hits.  I love country, pop, hip hop, gospel, big band, barbershop and a little bit of everything in between.  You can throw in a soundtrack and I can name the movie that made the song famous. Sometimes it amazes me that a person like me who can't remember what they had for dinner last night or what they drove to the grocery store to get, can remember a song they sang as a child.  Word for word.  But I guess that just goes to show you the power of music.  It's not just something you learn in your head, it's something you feel with your heart.

I'm sure there is a time to leave the past in the past.  But for now, turn the radio up and sing along.  While you're at it, sing it loud.