The other day I was driving in my car and as I was scanning radio stations to find a song to listen to, I stumbled upon “Sail Away” by Enya.
The song instantly made me smile and transported me back to jazz class with my friends Kristen and Michaela when we were in middle school. (My foray into dance was very short lived.) I thought the teacher was the coolest and therefore thought all the music that she played was super cool. I put Enya’s CD on my Christmas list and remember listening to it on repeat in my boom box. Yes, my boom box.
The way a single song can elicit such strong memories always amazes me. Other songs that take me back and make me smile:
- Sunday Morning or any song from Maroon 5’s Songs About Jane album: The first couple of months that Ryan and I started dating, I would play this CD in my dorm room whenever I got ready for a date. He also had a copy in his car and we both say this album makes us think about the beginning of our relationship. Love!
- Maneater by Nelly Furtado: “Maneater” makes me remember a surprise visit to Indiana University with my girlfriends in college. We played this song on repeat at like 2 a.m. at a house party and couldn’t get enough.
- Be My Lover – LaBouche: I can still remember some of the ridiculous moves from a dance my friend Michaela and I choreographed to this song in my basement when we were in middle school.
- Zombie Nation – Kernkraft 400: UCF football games and tailgating!
- Danger Zone – Top Gun Soundtrack: My dad’s all-time favorite movie is Top Gun and I always think of him when I hear this song!
- 3 Is A Magic Number – Blind Melon: Ryan and I always sing this song whenever Sadie starts to act obnoxious and tries to get in between us when we hug or something. Sadie has to be in the middle of everything, so this song makes us laugh because I’m pretty sure she believes that three really is the magic number.
- Celebration – Kool & The Gang: My sorority always played this song during the first day of rush. Instead of “Celebrate good times, come on,” we’d sing “Celebrate good times, KD!” Extreme creativity right there, my friends.
- Hail Holy Queen – Sister Act Soundtrack: This song reminds me of singing at the top of my lungs and dancing with my girlfriends in my house in high school in our Halloween costumes before heading out to a Halloween party.
- Dynamite – Taio Cruz: My bachelorette party!
- Everything – Michael Buble: This was the song Ryan and I chose for the first dance at our wedding and it never fails to make me smile.
- Hey Ya – Outkast: This reminds me of eating at the dining hall during my freshman year of college. This song was always playing.
- You Sexy Thing (I Believe In Miracles) – Hot Chocolate: This song reminds me of dressing up in ridiculous costumes and making homemade music videos with my friends when we were younger!
- Feels Like Home – Chantal Kreviazuk: “Feels Like Home” reminds me of singing cheesy, sentimental songs with my best friends from college.
Question of the Afternoon
- What is one song that always takes you back to a fun time in your life?
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“I Only Wanna Be With You” by Hootie and the Blowfish reminds me of when my hubby (then BF) first became a Marine. When I would make the 5 hour drive to go visit him, I remember playing this song in the car a lot. It was a rough time getting adjusted to a long-distance relationship and military life but, looking back, it was also a beautiful time – it was around then that I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him!
I love Hootie!!!
He’s a country singer now!
And that story is so sweet! 🙂
Shoop by Salt n Pepper reminds me of being in 6th grade with my best friend. We can still both rap/sing all of the lyrics 😉
Elton John songs remind me of my boyfriend as we went to his concert a couple of years ago. A song called ‘Raindrops’ which is a techno song also reminds me of my boyfriend as it was the song we first heard when we ever first met, if we ever get married we would probably play it at our wedding randomly which I’m sure would get some strange looks but we both know it well 🙂
Any Backstreet Boys song reminds me of the BSB and NKOTB concert my 4 best girlsfriends and I went to 2 summers ago. One of the funnest nights of my life!
Oh my gosh. SO many songs that take me back. Any spice girl, backstreet boys, n-sync, and some ol’ school rap gets thrown in there too.
Any song by James Taylor reminds me of my hubby! We just got married and are only 24 yrs old but we always say we have old souls because we love a lot of older music. Also, our song we first danced to as a married couple was “You’ve got a friend” by James Taylor.
AND any Beyonce song reminds me of my friend Megan and I dancing our hearts out in college at early hours in the morning! We were very classy 🙂
There are a LOT — definitely Bette Midler’s “The Rose”, though, since I associate it with KD… specifically, during Pref Night “rehearsal,” where we had to practice passing the white rose around the circle and getting the timing right as we looked pensive and plucked the petals off one by one. Inevitably, someone would crack and start giggling, which would cause a huge chain reaction and eventual meltdown. Thankfully, when it came time to actually do the pref ceremony, we all got sentimental enough that the opposite happened and we had the appropriate tears!
OH MY GOSH, YESSS! I totally forgot about that song. Too funny!
Living on a prayer, by Bon Jovi. That song played when my friend and I just passed the half mark of our first marathon. We started singing along, screaming «WOAAAAAAAAAH! WE’RE HALF WAY THERE!! WOHO! LIVING ON A PRAYER!» We had such a blast and whenever we hear that song, we text each other! There are so many that takes me back, I feel like my life has it’s own soundtrack 🙂
Anything Hanson takes me back to my pre teen days and I love it! I was a huge fan of them because of living in Tulsa, how could you not love a group of boys from your town 😉 Anytime I hear their music it makes me smile because they were my first boy band love <3 haha!
Oh my goodness. Maneater, or any Nelly Furtado song, reminds me of my party girl days. My friend and I would listen to that as we were getting ready for a night out. We thought we were pretty hot stuff. Fun times.
Anytime I listen to Destiny’s Child, it always makes me smile, especially “Say My Name,” it reminds me of when I first heard it.
Whenever I hear “Stacy’s Mom” or “I’m a Barbie Girl” or “White and Nerdy” I think of my 6th grade year. My friends and I were just a litttttttle weird 😉
You Don’t Know My Name by Alicia Keys reminds me of pulling all nighters with my friends sophomore year in college. We’d crack ourselves up trying to imitate the phone conversation in the middle of the song! I’m lovin’ all of your fave songs from college too, especially Hey Ya!
As a child of the 80s (really the 80s, I’m 38 now), so many songs bring back memories. But as a Canadian, growing up watching Degrassi, anything Larry Gowan (Burning Torches of Hope in particular) reminds me of being a kid. They also played a lot of his videos on Sam Taylor’s Video hits which I watched religiously after school. He is still one of my favourite musicians and I listen to him all the time. Nothing like Canadian progressive rock:)
Oh and I love that Enya song too, but it’s actually called “Orinoco Flow”, if you’re ever looking for it. It’s from her Watermark album.
“Secret Garden” by Bruce Springsteen (the one with Jerry Maguire dialogue in the background) ALWAYS takes me back to Sunday mornings when I was in middle school and I used to listen to Kasey Kasem’s Top 20 Countdown. I wasn’t allowed to see the movie at the time, but I still knew all the words to the song and even used my tape player to record the Top 20 so I could listen to it all weeklong! Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” and The Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There For You” were often on that Countdown as well 🙂
Great post! ‘4 My People” by Missy Elliot always got me and my girls on the dancefloor in our single days.
OMG!!! I forgot about that song!!!!
“I’m Blue” by Eiffel 65 always reminds me of my gymnastics routine in 3rd grade! Also, “Then” by Brad Paisley will always remind me of mine and my husband’s first dance at our wedding! There are SO many songs that I’ll hear for the first time in a while and instantly be taken back to a certain time in my life!
I loved reading this post!
Ignition by R. Kelly brings me back to some awkward high school dances that at this point in my life, I’m trying desperately to forget. hah
Any song by the Spice Girls always takes me back to Junior High. They never get old! 😉
I love how songs can bring back the best boughts of nostalgia!
Redneck Yacht Club – Always reminds me of my best friend from college who is even more country than myself.
I Believe In a Thing Called Love – Great Highschool memories with my best friends.
Anything by Nelly – Freshman year of Highschool.
All I Want is You – (Juno Soundtrack) Always makes me thing of my Husband and the weeks leading up to our wedding.
What a list!!! Anything by ace of bass takes me back to summer camp in elementary school for sure! Also any Christina Aguilera is high school! For college I can’t think of anything strangely enough!!
Haha so many awesome songs!!! Any old Usher song takes me back to the Prom days in high school. OH man, the memories! And then anything from Third Eye Blind..late 90’s and early 2000’s were legit.
Hey, Julie! I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now but I never posted any comments. But the song that takes me back is Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani. Every time I hear that, it always takes me back to when I was younger!
“Yellow” was my song with my HS bf, anytime I hear it I smile and think of being a teenager again in love for the first time.
Umbrella.. summer of 2007. Good times!
There are so many songs that instantly make me think of so many things-specifically anything that is designated as a “camp song” but I think back to the first summer when my boyfriend and I started dating anytime I hear Otis Redding “These arms of mine” In the first week of our dating, we spent a lot of time together, just hanging out and listening to music. This song came on and he stood up, put his hand out, and asked me to dance with him in the middle of his bedroom on a random Wednesday evening. That was five or six days after our first official date and I knew then I was falling in love with him
Everything – Michael Buble was our wedding song too. That one always makes me smile. Can’t wait for his concert in November!
I’m yours by Jason Mraz and baby got back and low! College baby!
Love this post!!! Weirdly it really reminds me of your early posts for some reason?
And the song smile by uncle kracker always brings me back to high school graduation where it was played! love it to this day!
OMG my husband and I exited the church to “Everything”!
Whenever I hear anything Backstreet Boys, I instantly remember all of the lyrics! Loved them when I was younger. Also “I’m blue (da ba dee)” always makes me smile!
It seems like “It Feels Like Home” is just the universal cheesy/sentimental/cry-fest sorority anthem. My sorority used it during the last day of rush during our “serious” day. Oh the memories!
I am a KD as well, and our chapter’s “it” song was Sweet Caroline. At formal dances whenever that song would come on we would all get in a big circle and jump up & down during the chorus and sway during the versus (and of course sing along). The seniors would always stand in the middle, and they would always cry because it was the sign that graduation was coming and our college years were over. To this day, when I hear that song my neck whips back and forth looking for my sisters to run and make that circle.
Also, on the topic of recruitment songs, I do not know the real lyrics to a lot of songs from 2000 and on because we always changed the words for skit night. Favorites include: MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” (Come Join Us!), Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” (KD Ladies, Taylor Swift’s “You Belong with Me” (You Belong KD), and Nelly’s “Grillz” (Pearls).
Such fun memories! Thanks for reminding me of them! AOT.
Aww I love this post and reading the comments 🙂
I love this! Graduation Song by Vitamin C brings me back to graduating from junior high to high school when we were all getting seperated for a bigger school. We played it all the time haha!
Sunday Morning is one of my absolute favorite songs! Never fails to put me in a good mood 🙂
Love this post…songs are so powerful at bringing back good times!
My husband and his roommates (they were quite the party kids back in college) used to blast “Summertime” by Kenny Chesney while we were all hanging out on their deck and soaking up the start of summer and the end of spring semesters. It’s such a lighthearted song and it always takes me straight back to the carefree days of college. My husband and I still roll the windows down and belt it out every time we’re driving and hear it on the radio!
hahaha I love this post! and I remember the day I went to buy that Maroon 5 album, definitely a favorite 😀
I loveeee how songs can trigger such memories! I will randomly hear songs that will bring me back to middle school dance days. So funny to think about. One song, The Way You Look Tonight, used to remind me of my Junior prom and dancing with an ex boyfriend… but then on my honeymoon my new hubs and I sat in a bar on our last night in Maui listening to a live band… and they played that song! It’s a much better memory now. 😉
Any BSB, NSYNC or s club 7 song takes me back to middle school…i went to a Christian school in downtown Orlando!! counting crowes makes me think of my fiancé…our first dance will be “we’re only love’ by them. Amazing!!!
Eric church, Blake shelton and many other country artists makes me think of Nashville when we lived there for 2 years. I miss that city!!
Eric Church Hell on the Heart takes me back to my senior year of college. It still makes me smile every time it comes on my shuffle!
I seriously just LOLed at you playing Enya in a boom box. Seriously, does it get any better than that? Any Michael Jackson song always takes me back to my cousin and I choreographing dance routines in our basements!
Absolutely anything by Hootie and the Blowfish or now Darius Rucker. He is from my home state and every time I listened to him in college it was like I was right back home in South Carolina again. My fiance’ and I have chosen he and Lionel Ritche’s – “Stuck on You” for our first dance at our wedding in October, bring on the waterworks!
Isn’t it so funny how songs can trigger a specific memory?? Every time I hear Kings of Leon it makes me think of driving to the rec center in college in the early hours of the day to workout before class at 8. And anything John Mayer makes me think of my husband. He LOVES John Mayer
Anytime I hear “When You’ve Got A Good Thing” by Lady Antebellum, I think of my first dance at my wedding last summer with my husband. Also, when I hear “I Won’t Give Up,” by Jason Mraz, “I Do” by Colbie Callet,” or “I’m Your’s,” by Jason Mraz, I think of our wedding video because all three of those songs are in our video. 🙂
Sympathy for the Devil by The Stones. I got my first and only speeding ticket jamming to that one heading home from work… 45 in a 30, lol. 🙂
“Feels Like Home” by Chantal Kreviazuk was the song my sorority (also KD :-)) played on the last day of recruitment my senior year, and then kind of became the “song” for my pledge class… so if it’s playing, there are definitely PC ’06 girls tearing up!
“Everything” by Michael Buble was the song my husband and I shared our first dance to at our wedding, too! Love that song! 🙂
When I was at UCF in 04-05, my sorority and I danced to “Goodies” by Ciara and “My Prerogative” by Britney Spears for homecoming and then “Let Me Love You” by Mario and “Sugar (Gimme Some)” by Trick Daddy. Anytime I hear those I have to smile and dance along haha!
I was seriously just running through lists of songs a few days ago while on my way home from work. So many different songs that can just stop me dead in my tracks and take me back to a specific place in my life. One of the funniest is “Red Red Wine” by UB40. My sister and I used to ask my mom to crank it up and we’d do our “Hawaiian” dance in the backseat of the car. (Because we figured that everyone that was from an island must be from Hawaii). Every. Single. Time. Thanks for sharing yours!
Feels Like Home by Chantal Kreviazuk was one of the songs we played during our rush skits. It makes me cry every time!