Music has always touched me. Songs from my youth – high school days especially – still have a profound effect on how I think and feel. Lyrics touch the soul; it is the poetry of the heart.
I find that certain songs bring back fond memories and emotions from the past. Music links us to our past in figuring out how we became the person we are today; it’s a reflection of how we felt then and the music that led our feelings.
“Just an Old Fashioned Love Song” by Three Dog Night has been running through my mind this past week. This ballad was definitely one that made me contemplate my feelings. The rhythm, the catchy melody, and the words often made me feel melancholy. With music as easy to play from our Alex devices or Spotify app, we can be transported back to through the past.
Another such song we’ve listened to recently is “American Pie” by Don McLean. Interestingly, this song was written about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and two others back in 1959. Written in 1971, I didn’t know anything about them; I just liked the song. I still have the Album today.
“Lady” by Styx was also a classic ballad. Styx is still one of my all-time favorite artists. “Babe”, “First Time”, “A Man Like Me” – all songs that I can quote word for word. They show my side as a young romantic. I wanted to be loved, and I wanted to be someone’s everything. This type of song clearly is where I realized my heart needed something more. However, I would play any record from end to end and memorize the words to every song on an album.
Boston – another great band – gave us songs like “A Man I’ll Never Be”, “More Than A Feeling”, and “Amanda”. They still evoke strong feelings of high school romances and possibilities.
Foreigner, with songs like “I Want to Know What Love Is”, “Hot Blooded”, “Waiting for a Girl Like You”, “Until the End of Time”, “Back Where You Belong”, and “Feels Like the First Time” and so many others, also holds a special place on my music list. At one point an ex-boyfriend dedicated a song to me – “The Damage is Done”. That was a kick in the teeth.
One artist that I fell in love with late in my high school days was basically for one song, “I’ll Always Love You”. Michael Johnson. Most had never heard of him, but having a copy of the song was so important to me at the time I remember driving all the way to Salt Lake City to find the album. Others on the album didn’t get much recognition, but “This Night Won’t Last Forever” was also a good one.
Other songs of memory include:
“S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night” by the Bay City Rollers
“I’d Love You to Want Me” by Logo
“It’s Sad to Belong” England Dan & John Ford Coley
“Joy To The World” by Three Dog Night
“If You Leave Me Now” by Chicago
“No Tell Lover” by Chicago
“Pieces of April” by Three Dog Night
“We’ll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again” by England Dan & John Ford Coley
“Reminiscing” by Little River Band
“(I’ve been) Searchin’ so Long” by Chicago
“Killing Me Softly with His Song” by Roberta Flack
“Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac
“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack
“Hard to Say I’m Sorry” by Chicago
“You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” by Neil Diamond
“Who’s That Man” by Toby Keith
“Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum
“Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley
“Will You Still Love Me” by Chicago
“Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon
“A Better Man” by Clint Black
“I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash
“I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your Love” by Chicago
“Dream Weaver” by Gary Wright
“I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy
“The Best of My Love” by The Eagles
“Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me” by Mac Davis
“Fifty Ways to Save Your Lover” by Paul Simon
“Colour My World” by Chicago
and finally songs from Bread:
“Baby I’m-a Want You”
“If”
“Make It With You”
“Lost Without Your Love”
“It Don’t Matter To Me”
Guitar Man”
“Aubrey”
Catching the trend? I’m a romantic at heart. The songs are mostly about love and relationships.
In summary, I have a number of playlists on Spotify that I listen to regularly. Of course, it has current songs as well as the songs listed above. Music is an easy way to remember a feeling; to touch a part of your soul, and it brings back memories from a simpler time when love was only a wish and heartache wasn’t yet experienced in its full ferocity. I often walk down memory lane for a taste of that time… “when music fills your (my) mortal soul”.
hidden words of truth 