Did you ever have a piece of music suddenly open a floodgate of nostalgia--so that you shed five or fifty years and drift back in memory to the occasion and time when that song became special just to you?
Now, I'm a sentimental sort myself and when a melody drifts over a loudspeaker, radio or TV it will nudge a thread in my memory so that I may reach for a Kleenex, sing right along or laugh out loud--but I have a fine time just remembering.
Some songs bring back people to me, like my mother whistling her Victor Herbert favorite, "Ah Sweet Mystery of Life" embellishing the melody with bird calls and trills that sent shivers up my young spine. No one could whistle like my mom.
There were Christmas mornings of my young childhood when my father would almost rattle the windows with his off key baritone of "Come All Ye Faithful". Never in my memory did he sing any other song or on any other morning--it was special and I loved it!
In among our collected records Pop and I have a stirring rendition of the "Lost Chord" played on a mighty theater organ. One more I'm on stage at the Cleveland Music Hall graduating with 700 other high school seniors. There were two mighty organs there that accompanied our singing and together we made the entire hall thunder and shake with strains of that powerful song.
"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", "Sunny Side Of The Street", "Moonglow"--fourteen or fifteen of us after a church young people's meeting singing as we trooped into the nearby drugstore for a soda.
"Ja-Da", "Charleston" and my memory screen flashes as my youngest aunt stumbles through them on the square piano at grandma's. She was to my ten or twelve year old eyes "really something". Only five feet tall, full of pep and zip she had boyfriends by the score. Wow! I thought if I could only dance the Charleston like she could--just be popular like my special aunt.
"Object Of My Affection" and I'm a freshman at Alleghany College. "September In The Rain" and my college roommate at Ohio State for three years--she was red haired and moody and this was her theme song which she hummed or sang constantly.
"Penthouse Serenade", "Music Goes Around", "Mairsy-Doats" and the era of the big bands and college dances to the smooth rhythms of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Freddy Martin, Benny Goodman, Glen Gray. Those were the days of standing around the bandstand to watch the drummers, sax players, lead singers or clarinet players perform.
Marriage and those budget Saturday nights we spent at the local record shop trying out our favorite tunes. For the purchase of one disc you could send the evening in one of the record booths listening to favorites like "Got A Date With An Angel" or the Casablanca movie favorite "As Time Goes By".
Remember the War years with "It's a Blue World", "I'll Be Home For Christmas" or "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree" and the oldies that had been favorites of Pop and I suddenly become precious with the Atlantic Ocean separating us for four years.
So songs have melted and mixed with events in my life, one blending into another. Favorites remembered like "Hello Dolly" or "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" or "Satin Doll", all reminders of growing older years, some sad, some joyous--but one thing I've discovered I never remember any of the present rock songs--with me it is the sweet swing that endures. I can't help wonder through, what will be the memory songs for my grandchildren?
Written probably late 1980's. A little backstory on this article: I found this (the original crumpled up, but saved) among articles Mom had saved from Port Charlotte Village, and these in a box I inherited. After I finished writing Whiteloc, I decided to reread Dad's Collection of her writings and found the one I firmly remember that she wrote on the Civil War was not among the collections. So I started newspaper searches and went through the box.
It would seem that somehow Mom and I think along the same lines when it comes to music and memories--and the theme of Whiteloc...
Note: Mom's Mother raised canaries and she cleaned the cages for allowance.