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Speaking of the past (songs that take you back)


DawnM
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What songs do you hear and think about another time and place you were in in the past?

 

I have an easy listening 70s-90s station on and the song Sailing (Christopher Cross) has come on.

That was our theme song for our student center in high school.  There wasn't a whole lot of secular music we were allowed to listen to at our boarding school, and there wasn't a lot of music from the States at all, but Christopher Cross was approved and played at least twice every evening student center was open (open 2 hours certain days of the week.)

I am thinking as it is playing......I don't want to go back to high school, and yet......that is where my best friends were, my mom was still alive, many of my close family friends' parents were still alive.  It made me feel happy for a few minutes.

What songs make you reminisce?

 

Edited by DawnM
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"Just My Imagination" by the Temptations takes me to a particular evening with friends.

Songs from the soundtrack of "Superfly" remind me of my brother. The year that movie came out he played that soundtrack constantly at home.

There are some songs that remind of driving around with my sister when she was 18 and I was 13. She had a convertible that was so fun. We were close then. 

"Fire and Rain" by James Taylor takes me back to my junior high years, when I was a lonely ugly fat girl and I listened to that album every day.

I'm sure there are loads more.

ETA: Dawn, I missed that your Mom had died. I am so sorry! I know you had been worried about her. 

 

 

Edited by marbel
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Guns n' Roses takes me back to grade 6 (a horrible year for me!)

Anything from Bowie's Let's Dance album makes me think of playing in my friend's basement to get out of the summer heat.

It Ain't Me Babe reminds me of a university boyfriend I had.

Born To Be Wild reminds me of a trip I took to visit my grandmother and great aunt in Ottawa.

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There are so many 70’s hits that I remember mainly because my best friend and I were trying to record two perfect tapes of our favorites with a tape recorder off the radio........we would listen intently and try to push record at just the right moment.  Then there was the listening and rewinding if it wasn’t right.  Took us forever.   Beth by Kiss was particularly hard to get for some reason and took us weeks.  Dream Weaver reminds me of gym class and a mass dance routine. There are sooooo many.....

 

 

Edited by mumto2
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Anything Garth Brooks takes me back to college days country line dancing trying to catch DH's eye

Melissa Etheridge's Come to My Window takes me back to the tumultuous boyfriend before DH

Sir Mix a Lot's Baby got Back and Boyz 2 Men and Salt n Peppa takes me back to high school days

Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson take me back to elementary school 

I have a very vivid memory of swinging on the swings at the playground and singing Mandy by Barry Manilow

Johnny Mathis Christmas music takes me back to putting up the Christmas tree as a kid - I hated listening to it growing up and thought it was so lame, but once I became an adult and got my own place, I found I was compmetely unable to get into the Christmas spirit and decorate without Johnny, much to DH's chagrin 🙄

Um, apparently I have a wide variety of music in my memory box LOL

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Songs from the summer of '69 (not the Bryan Adams song but the actual summer of '69) remind me of our last summer before we moved to Florida. That July man landed on the moon and I made the best of time with my friends. That August we left New Jersey and moved to Florida.

I can smell the fresh cut grass (very different from grass in FL) and hear the sounds of us kids playing, running up and down a hill that was near our apartment.

Crystal Blue Persuasion
My Cherie Amor
I Love You More Today Than Yesterday
Put a Little Love in Your Heart

Those are the songs that seemed to play over and over. They're my madeleines.

3 hours ago, Bluegoat said:

 

Born To Be Wild reminds me of a trip I took to visit my grandmother and great aunt in Ottawa.

That one reminds me of the Tilt-a-Whirl down the shore in NJ. It was the one they played when the ride briefly went fast (fast is relative - I was a kid).

Edited by Lady Florida.
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Queen. Alan Parsons Project. Phil Collins. Mark Knopfler/Dire Straights. Sting/Police. Huey Lewis and the News. Doug and the Slugs (Canadian)

I Want My MTV. (Money for Nothing) I didn't really, but it was a great song!

We Don't Need No Education

Sultans of Swing

Edited by wintermom
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4 minutes ago, myblessings4 said:

I remember when MTV started.  It was just before I turned 15 and started tenth grade.  We had just gotten cable in our area, rather than just ABC/CBS/NBC, so I was able to see it.

Weren't those early music videos awful? It was a process to get musicians to be video stars. "Video killed the radio star." 😂

Edited by wintermom
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Every Breath You Take -- family vacation now referred to as "the road trip from hell." 🙂As I recall, it involved my baby sister being carsick and screaming a lot of the time, me getting sick, lots of windy roads, and a strict and somewhat grumpy Great Aunt. But the soundtrack was great. 

Annie's Song and Matthew by John Denver and Longer and Leader of the Band by Dan Folgelberg -- playing in my living room with my dad and brother when I was little. Good music, but way too melancholy for (this) little kid. 

Bust a Move -- early high school dances

Smells Like Teen Spirit -- late high school dances

Edited by MercyA
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53 minutes ago, TrixieB said:

Did you know there is an ABBA museum in Stockholm?  The woman in front of us at IKEA today was wearing a shirt from the museum.  She said it's a little cheesy but very worth a visit.

I can guess it would be cheesy, but fun!  Isn't that what ABBA was all about anyway? 

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23 minutes ago, Lady Florida. said:

Dare I ask? Why would he be on our black list? I've never heard anyone suggest that but maybe I'm unaware of something.

Once he went after Sony to try and get out of his contract he dropped off the music scene in US pretty much for good. 

Edited by wintermom
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5 minutes ago, wintermom said:

Once he went after Sony to try and get our his contract he dropped off the music scene in US pretty much for good. 

So I guess I was unaware. I thought it was going to be something political, which is why I was afraid to ask. I didn't want a fun thread to take the wrong turn. 🙂 

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We just saw the Beetles album with cover that started the whole Paul is dead controversy at Target.........my kids were along and are somewhat amazed/bemused that their parents bonded over Dh (14) convincing their mom(at 13) to sit around carefully pressing my record player’s needle (someone had given me the album in a clear out) to make it go backwards and say Paul is dead .......supposedly it worked for him.  😉https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/paul-mccartney-is-dead-conspiracy-897189/  

btw This would have been in 1977 so I was super gullible a decade after this was a big deal!

 

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8 minutes ago, Momto6inIN said:

My mom cleaned to Barry Manilow 🙂

I think I would still know all the words to the Barry Manilow songs I sang back in the day. Pretty risque stuff for a 4th grader to be singing, "Her name was Lola, she was a show girl...." 😂

Captain and Tennille,  Tony Orlando and Dawn, Sonny and Cher - all the big duos! 😉

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35 minutes ago, wintermom said:

I think I would still know all the words to the Barry Manilow songs I sang back in the day. Pretty risque stuff for a 4th grader to be singing, "Her name was Lola, she was a show girl...." 😂

Captain and Tennille,  Tony Orlando and Dawn, Sonny and Cher - all the big duos! 😉

I loved Barry Manilow.   Even now.  I was about 15.  

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9 hours ago, Scarlett said:

I know I am really dating myself, but anyone remember Billy Don’t be a Hero?  And we had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun?

Those two songs instantly transport me back to age 9. I had no idea of the context of those songs......

Good-bye my friend it's hard to die...

Looking at all the actual lyrics of this song is tough now. It was a much sadder song than I thought it was.

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20 hours ago, Mbelle said:

Rhinestone Cowboy.. the 70's sitting the backseat with my brother and of course no seatbelts and singing as loud as we could.

We listened as we went up the pass from the city to our home in the mountains. Great memories!

Loverboy's Workin' for the Weekend when I went with a few other friends to a mountain resort and listened by the pool. 

Barry Manilow. I wasn't such a fan, but my mom was. I remember figuring out how to buy 2 tickets to his concert for my mom when I was about 9. I still remember giving her the tickets when we were in our basement and she sank down on the stairs and cried. She took a neighbor a few days later.

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On 1/4/2020 at 11:14 PM, Scarlett said:

I know I am really dating myself, but anyone remember Billy Don’t be a Hero?  And we had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun?

Those two songs instantly transport me back to age 9. I had no idea of the context of those songs......

Oh my!  Growing up I shared a bedroom with my sister who was 8 years older and she fell asleep to the radio.  Those songs gave me nightmares!

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32 minutes ago, happi duck said:

Oh my!  Growing up I shared a bedroom with my sister who was 8 years older and she fell asleep to the radio.  Those songs gave me nightmares!

I thought they were both romantic.  I knew Billy was about going to war....but didn’t of course understand everything that was going on in the country at that time. 

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Tom Sawyer by Rush always takes me back to a large church kitchen very early (still dark early) Easter morning.  

My sister was cooking the Easter breakfast and I was her helper.  We were the only ones there with our favorite radio station cranked up and were in the zone getting things done.  She was a great cook and had worked in professional kitchens.  She made the fanciest and tastiest Easter breakfasts that church ever had!

I love the song Tom Sawyer and always remember hearing it that morning.

I miss my sisters

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