song nostalgia

this will be a post-in-progress, since I'm always driving down the road and hearing another one. these are songs that remind me of other times, specific times, and potent memories. this post is inspired by rob sheffield, who did a lot of this in his book, Love is a Mix Tape.

here we go...

1. "if you could only see" by tonic

this song reminds me of early high school (say 1997) and sitting in the gym at my church, first presbyterian of greer, watching my friends' band called the simply waynes. I used to ask for them to play this song as a request because I loved how they performed it. a fair number of the members of that band went on to become the band Emery, who have enjoyed great success!

2. "come out and play (keep'm separated)" by the offspring

remember the time you had a first, real live crush on a person, I mean hard-core, mushy in your gut and butterflies in the stomach, where you can't imagine how amazing it would be to kiss that person, but there's no way it would ever happen, because they are way, way too hot? that's where this song takes me, back to the ripe old age of 13, dancing The Nutcracker all around the upstate (south carolina). the boy was the son of the ballet company owners, a ridiculously gorgeous (and sometimes scary) married couple. of course, their son played the lead role of the nutcracker prince, he looked PHENOMENAL in white dance tights, and every other girl in the show felt the same way I did, and at least some of them got to make out with him (I didn't).

3. "can't help falling in love" by UB40

now, before you judge, remember that I grew up a child of the 80s and a teen in the 90s, so it's completely fitting to have grand associations with UB40. this is another big adolescent mover-and-shaker song. it reminds me of the first year I went to camp (age 12?) and all that comes with it: packing a trunk for 2 weeks, being away from home for a long time for the first time, being segregated by sex into cabins, being woken up at midnight for Christmas in July, other various boy crushes (including much older ones), a roommate who is the daughter of Johnny Unitas, my first exposure to bulimia (a counselor, not a camper), the morning dip ritual in the freezing lake, singing folk songs, drinking punch, and all of the other fantastic things that happen at summer camp (FROZEN ZERO BARS). also, the day we went home, I napped for about 8 hours and then went straight to bed.