Singing Myself Home

I just finished reading Jodi Picoult's new book Sing You Home. One of the main characters in the book is a music therapist and at the beginning of the book, she goes on to explain how certain songs can evoke memories in people. How upon hearing a certain song, it can bring you back to that place emotionally. How you were feeling and experiencing at that time. In my opinion, this concept is so very true, and it started to make me think of songs that I hear and bring me back to certain (usually special) times in my life. I can think of numerous songs that I only need to hear the first five seconds of and they will transform back to a place in time. Sometimes that song might bring m back to a sad time, but usually the song takes me back to a very happy and fun time in my life. Below are 5 songs that I hear and right away and automatically get me transform me back to a "happy place."

1. Thong Song (Sisco) and Big Pimpin' (Jay-Z)  Remember back in the day, when big events would come up and you'd make a mix tape or a mix CD to remember that event. I use to make them all the time for flights when going on vacation and for road trips in college. One of the best mix CD's I ever made was for my senior year of high school spring break trip with my girlfriends. We went on a Carribbean cruise that spring break and it was such a fun time. We played that mix over and over again. I listened to it on the airplane and we played it on the deck of the ship and on the beach over and over again. Today, when I hear either of those songs, usually on shuffle on my iPod, I instantly get a smile on my face and can't help but shake my head to the beats of the music and the good times I had with my girlfriends on that trip. 

2. Forever Young (Rod Stewart) I will usually hear this song listening to classic rock on some random station in someone's car and it brings me back to seventh grade. This is the song that my Bat Mitzvah montage starts off with. As the song plays, there are pictures of me on the screen of me in different points of my life and you can see me growing up. The second I hear that song, I can picture that montage in my head. Damn, I was so adorable when I was little.

3. Ignition (R. Kelly) and In Da Club (50 Cent).  My junior year of college, my mom and I went to Florida for about 5 days together to visit my grandparents. We also made small road trips daily to Ft. Lauderdale, South Beach, etc... and would bump tunes in the car and sing along. We listened to a lot of hip hop and pop radio stations and these two songs were pretty mainstream and played on both stations so we heard them a lot. And we'd sing along and out loud each time. My mom also knew all the words to both songs so we'd really rock out the duets each time. This was one of the best trips I have ever been on. It was the first vacation my mom and I ever took just the two of us and really solidified our relationship. She is truly my best friend and its funny to think how much R. Kelly and 50 Cent could brought us so much closer.Whenever I hear these songs, I think of all our adventures that trip and all the memories we made together.

4. Crank That (Soulja Boy). Believe it or not, this song reminds me of Israel? You see, a little after this song became popular I went on my Birthright trip to Israel. I was one of 2 people on that trip from NYC so that automatically upped my street cred in the group, natch. Not only did I know the words to the song, I knew the dance too. Pretty fly for a white Jewish girl, right? The trip was 10 days long and there wasn't a day on that trip that we didn't hear that song and I didn't perform the dance for our entire travel group. By the end of the trip, most of our 40 person group knew all the dance moves and we would often just break into dance on the middle of our bus. Israel didn't know what was hitting 'em.

5. I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor). Every year in middle school there was a talent show. In seventh grade, three friends and myself decided to enter the show and lip sync and dance to this song. We choreographed the entire dance and had color coordinated costumes. Basically, we were the shit. I mean, we practiced our butts off for this show and when it was our time to perform, we nailed it. All the practice, time, and energy we put into our act paid off. We were a hit. Also, for the rest of the year, when this song came on at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs (which we may or may not have requested to the DJ), everyone circled around us as we danced our little hearts out with our awesome choreography. These days, I usually only hear this song at weddings or Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, but you better believe I will whip out some of my old dance moves and show everyone that I've still got it.

Some of the songs I listed above might mean nothing to you at all. They might also bring back a completely different type of memory for you. However, for me, I know that even writing this post helped me reminisce of great times in my life and how much music can really affect someone and change their mood. With so much more to come in my life, I know I will be able to connect to so many more songs, both old and new, and make new memories with them.