Under Glass
A song came up on random play today and I suddenly became aware of where I was. I mean, I was in my apartment, but for the duration of that song I was in a rental car driving through the desert in Arizona. The sun was setting. It was hot. I could smell the leather of the seats- I could see the semis we passed and the cacti on the side of the highway...
I suddenly realized that this is undoubtedly my favorite thing about music. All of these precious memories are locked inside me under glass and all I have to do to open them is just put on my headphones, close my eyes and listen....
*******Lightning Crashes by Live- I'm in my freshman year dorm room, a boy is singing to me******Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos- I'm in Colorado up to my elbows in flour on a Friday afternoon******Good Enough by Sarah McLachlan- I'm packing up in the middle of the night, crying*******Jerry was a Race Car Driver by Primus- I'm at my Aunt and Uncles house. I'm watching MTV between reports of the arrest of Jeffery Dahmer*******Groovy Kind of Love by Phil Collins- I'm driving in the car with my high school boyfriend. It's snowing.*******
There are whole albums that will bring me back to parts of my life.
There are albums I have had in permanent rotation for so far back they remind me of my entire life, not just certain parts. I consider them a part of me, as much as my skin and bones.
And the people...all I have to do is turn on this music and my friends are with me. I pop in an album and I'm in a friends apartment 9 years ago. For three months the three of us barely left. We stole a cement ashtray and got it up the stairs. We bought a bunny instead of checking ourselves into the psych ward. We tried to pour an entire bottle of rum into a watermelon. We read to each other at night......I pop in another one and I'm living with N. my first time out on my own. We watch movies, we watch our cats hate each other, we go to parties, we go grocery shopping in the middle of the night and dance to the muizac. We become sisters..... Another one -and I'm road tripping with M., another - a road trip with P. down to New Orleans, another- I'm with A. and it's raining....
From the artists viewpoint, when I hear a song I've recorded I remember where I was when i did it. What the studio looked and smelled like. Who was there with me. How I was feeling that day. But I also have the memories of when I wrote the song, what it was about, and why it was important enough for me to write down.
So my whole life is made up of these little bits of sound. As is everyones. And what one song makes me feel, you won't feel. And what you feel I won't feel. And why I wrote the song isn't important compared to why you love it and where it takes you.
And they said time travel wasn't possible. Sillies.
I suddenly realized that this is undoubtedly my favorite thing about music. All of these precious memories are locked inside me under glass and all I have to do to open them is just put on my headphones, close my eyes and listen....
*******Lightning Crashes by Live- I'm in my freshman year dorm room, a boy is singing to me******Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos- I'm in Colorado up to my elbows in flour on a Friday afternoon******Good Enough by Sarah McLachlan- I'm packing up in the middle of the night, crying*******Jerry was a Race Car Driver by Primus- I'm at my Aunt and Uncles house. I'm watching MTV between reports of the arrest of Jeffery Dahmer*******Groovy Kind of Love by Phil Collins- I'm driving in the car with my high school boyfriend. It's snowing.*******
There are whole albums that will bring me back to parts of my life.
There are albums I have had in permanent rotation for so far back they remind me of my entire life, not just certain parts. I consider them a part of me, as much as my skin and bones.
And the people...all I have to do is turn on this music and my friends are with me. I pop in an album and I'm in a friends apartment 9 years ago. For three months the three of us barely left. We stole a cement ashtray and got it up the stairs. We bought a bunny instead of checking ourselves into the psych ward. We tried to pour an entire bottle of rum into a watermelon. We read to each other at night......I pop in another one and I'm living with N. my first time out on my own. We watch movies, we watch our cats hate each other, we go to parties, we go grocery shopping in the middle of the night and dance to the muizac. We become sisters..... Another one -and I'm road tripping with M., another - a road trip with P. down to New Orleans, another- I'm with A. and it's raining....
From the artists viewpoint, when I hear a song I've recorded I remember where I was when i did it. What the studio looked and smelled like. Who was there with me. How I was feeling that day. But I also have the memories of when I wrote the song, what it was about, and why it was important enough for me to write down.
So my whole life is made up of these little bits of sound. As is everyones. And what one song makes me feel, you won't feel. And what you feel I won't feel. And why I wrote the song isn't important compared to why you love it and where it takes you.
And they said time travel wasn't possible. Sillies.
posted by Kat Downs at 1:20 PM
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