A few months ago I was musing upon a handful of tunes which, when I hear them, transport me to certain times and places. I’ve now thought of a few more:
‘The Blue Danube’ – Johann Strauss II. This extremely famous waltz is unfortunately associated with a toilet cleaner advert which I saw on TV some time in the early 90s. The camera view was from inside the toilet, as a woman with big earrings and short hair triumphantly flushed her sparkling clean loo. Don’t ask me why I remember it so well. Brilliant piece of music though.
‘Jamming’ – Bob Marley and the Wailers. When I studied music at GCSE level (the qualifications taken by 16-year-olds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland), there were a variety of musical genres included in the curriculum. If I hear this song now, it takes me back to sitting in a classroom which smelled of hormones and hairspray, decoding the features of reggae.
‘Cool for Cats’ – Squeeze. This song is not exactly about cats. However, the Cat Show 1998 held at London Olympia (which was recorded off the TV for me and for a while was a favourite video) used part of the song for its opening credits. Even now I remember exactly at what moment in the song they showed a cat licking its lips.
‘It’s My Life’ – Bon Jovi. Ah, the art of taping songs off the radio. You would spend your Sunday afternoon listening to the chart (when Radio 1 played every song in the Top 40), hovering your fingers over the cassette recorder so you could grab the songs you liked, ideally without the presenter’s voice over the beginning. I particularly remember recording Bon Jovi’s comeback song in 2000.
‘Life is a Rollercoaster’ – Ronan Keating. Reaching number 1 in the UK chart, this mildly annoying song was always being played on the radio. I didn’t mind it too much, until I went to the dentist to have some teeth removed. Guess what was on the dentist’s radio while he was yanking out my gnashers? To this day, if I ever hear the song then I can taste anaesthetic and mouthwash.
Okay so i have to be honest, of all the songs listed here, I have only listened to Its my life, which I ABSOLUTELY ADORE!! 😍😍😍😍😍 But I am going to listen to the others as well now! 😘😘🌟❤️ Lovely post! 🌟🌟💕🦋
Thanks! It’s not a list of my favourite songs (although that could be another idea for a post!) just some that have weird or nostalgic memories attached to them 😉
Great list, love the toilet cleaner one. It’s funny the memories we associate with music. I absolutely LOVE ‘It’s My Life’ – if I ever have a drink and that comes on… watch out dancefloor!
Thanks! 🙂
It’s a great song isn’t it? Not tried dancing to it though…
I don’t really dance lol, just jump around with my arms in the air and sing (badly) very loudly. 🙂
Songs are my diary. Some great and some not so great. It’s really a bummer when a wonderful song is played but the memory is a nightmare. Damn you, ex-girlfriends.
For some reason Supertramp’s ‘Give a little bit’ has always been my feel good song. I can never locate the memory but something happened that causes me to smile and love life every time I hear it.
That’s really interesting, thanks for sharing. It’s odd how certain songs can be coloured by memories. Luckily I don’t think any really good songs have been ruined for me that way!
Some songs just make you feel happy and they don’t even have to be happy in tone. Music is a wonderful invention isn’t it? 🙂
Great list! I have so many memories of “It’s My Life” too, it is an epic, great song that is impossible not to love. Now it brings nostalgic feelings and I cannot believe that 19 years have already passed. I had no idea about the practice of tapping songs off the radio, too. If it were something pre-2003 then I was not in the UK to catch this 🙂
Thank you 😀
It’s a great song, I always used to hear it on the radio. Taping songs was a bit naughty but a lot of people did it! You just needed a radio cassette player which had a recording function 😉
Oh Bon Jovie! Love his songs! My mum had a serious crush on him when i was younger. We had his picture on the fridge 😀
Who *doesn’t* love Bon Jovi? That’s funny he was on your fridge. I’m afraid there isn’t anything as exciting on my fridge 😉