just a few words

[sun_set_bravely]

I can't stop listening to Aimee Mann's "Lost in Space." In close second place is Nelly Furtado's "Folklore."

I love it when albums stick to my ears and won't let go. This is how certain CDs tend to get strongly associated with specific times in my life. Even though it can make for difficult listening later, I kind of like this effect. Because when I listen to an old CD for the first time later on, it serves as such an incredible time capsule for me.

David Gray's "White Ladder" = Lancaster, England.
Patty Larkin's "Red = Luck" = last March and April.
Erin McKeown's "Grand" = this summer in Napa and San Francisco.
Hem's "Rabbit Songs" = this past September, with all of its stuff.
Rufus Wainwright's "Want One" = this past fall and Christmas season.

Sometimes I feel like I post a legend by my CD cases, so anyone who's choosing a CD to put on can avoid the emotional timebombs that live in some of those CDs. Of course, any emotional discomfort often passes when I listen to the CD for more than a few minutes, but it can be a shock at first.

Does the same thing happen with music and memories to you? Do you wish it didn't, or do you enjoy it? What's one CD you'll never be able to listen to again because of the memories attached to it? What's one CD that you love to listen to because of the memories attached to it?

~ ~ ~

Also, Philosophy's Chocolate Ice Cream Shampoo/Conditioner/Body Wash is delicious. It's very hard for me not to taste just a little when I'm washing my hair.

~ ~ ~

Happy Friday, all!

Comments

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

one of the reasons i listened to joseph arthur so compulsively for a long time was that i associated him very strongly with someone i met on lj who had been friends with joseph. (the man's name is even the title of one of joseph's songs.) every time i heard the albums, the pain would kick in. it was a sort of wallowing. by now, i can listen to that one song even and just sing along, but it took a while. might've been better to leave joseph off my cd drive for a few months!

after a heart-break a few years ago, i couldn't listen to tony bennett sing soupy love songs. they physically hurt me. i can now.

let me think of a happy association. that's harder, actually. i love the O Brother, Where Art Thou? album and enjoy singing along, loudly, while driving. this is at least in part because a friend of mine in australia flipped for that film and wrote to enthuse about how it was all *right out of Homer!* that adds a happy background note to the songs. :)

[chaptal.livejournal.com]

I cannot listen to Richard and Linda Thompson's 'Shoot Out The Light', bad breakup of a marriage.

Squeeze's 'East Side Story' lived on my turntable freshman year of college. Good stuff there.

[freak1c.livejournal.com]

A legend! Such a good idea. An index. Card Catalog that shit -

Williams, Lucinda - 2003 all year. Cross-reference under Summer Driving in Houston, The old shop on Montrose, Concert with Kimberly, Hard sounds on the Cape.

I like to think it doesn't happen to me since I'm a sound designer, and damnitt, the song should be appropriate to the situation at hand! Not at past memories! But - I guess it actually is kind of unavoidable.

I do have a CD I can't listen to. I'll tell you later. And one that I love to hear - Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun. Mustangs, Sun, Long Hair, Cigs, Singing with Friends, and Searching out old Graveyards in Central Texas.

~~~

Also: It's Friday!!! Thank God.
Also 2: I like that Chocalate stuff too.

[nickelchief.livejournal.com]

Although there's no records I can't listen to, I will confess that I have a rigid system by which I listen to (almost all) music. It goes by month.

This means that certain CDs come out of the big alphabetized collection on the first of the month. They go on the "now playing" shelf, and I listen to only those CDs for the full month. When I get a new CD, it is, say, a "March CD" and I listen to it a lot for 31 days, then on April 1st it goes back into the collection and is not pulled out again for 11 months.

It helps keep some of the "time capsule" sensations intact that you describe. As I grow old and forgetful, I appreciate the connection to the past it provides: if the snow is melting and the birds are returning and the earth is waking up again, it must be time for Luka Bloom's Riverside. Putting it on in March takes me back through all those Marches that came before. And so on throughout the year.

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

What a fascinating system! I've never heard of such a thing. How many CDs fit in each month?

[nickelchief.livejournal.com]

I'd say, on average, around 50 per month, though some months are heavy and some months are light.

There are plenty of exceptions to the rule, and the rules grow fuzzier as I get older and unable to maintain full anality. The Beatles, for example, exist outside time, as does most classical music. K.'s collection is completely outside the month system.

But there are certain CDs that are prohibited outside their allotted 28-31 day timeframe. These CDs are the sacred ones. For example, if you come to my house, you'll hear PONTIAC in October, LARGE BAND in June, JOSHUA JUDGES RUTH in January and February, ROAD TO ENSENADA and STEP INSIDE THIS HOUSE all summer, and none of those discs at any other time of year, for PONTIAC in April for me sounds like Julia Roberts' nails on a chalkboard.

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

This is spectacular. I think there's an article for some music magazine lurking in this technique of yours.

[girlinthemoon.livejournal.com]

'in my tribe' by 10,000 maniacs is hard to listen to, not so much for the songs, but for remembering a fight that my sister had with my parents, and our copy of the cd was somehow involved. i'm five years younger, and as such, the details are often hazy.

'little earthquakes' by tori amos is like a diary of mine, of a few years ago. it's beautiful and comforting to listen to.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

I get totally besotted with Aimee Mann records, except for I'm With Stupid, which is mostly replicated on the Magnolia soundtrack. She has such pleasing hooks and harmonies and great lyrics.

I couldn't listen to the Cure for years after a love affair with the goth boy who introduced me to them. Just seeing their CDs in a store made my hands shake. Thank god it's just music now. I also had to stay away from Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes for a long time, probably along with half the female 20-ish population.

Other albums I have powerful, if not unpleasant, reactions to include:
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark and Blue
Queen - A Night at the Opera
Neko Case - Blacklisted
Jonatha Brooke - Live
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass

And so on, and so on. I could go into songs but that would take days.

I have the Philosophy 3-in-1 in Orange Sherbet. I have an inch left and I've been using it for months and months (and months). I can't wait to finish at this point. I never used it on my hair, though - I heard it was drying - so I'm glad it's working for you. Ummm, chocolate ice cream.

[heidilouwho.livejournal.com]

i have much more to say about this topic, but i really need to be working on a grant application, so, in short, (and maybe to be followed up on later), the answers to your questions are:

yes;
i enjoy it - i love that it does, and i think it's a reminder that you've been through life;
i don't think there are any;
the first one that pops in my head (i know there are more, but this one just happens to be in my cd changer at the moment) is matthew sweet's 100% fun - high school memories, baby!

well, that was fun - now off to work!

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

haha!

You're welcome to come back and comment in more detail later. ;)

[bleppo.livejournal.com]

I have Philosophy's chocolate chip cookie shampoo/conditioner/body wash. I was skeptical when I heard about it, but it was given to me as a gift. Oh.Yum.

The Smother's Brothers did a song called "I fell in a vat of chocolate". I think of that every time I use the stuff.

[oceanic.livejournal.com]

I feel that way to various degrees about almost every CD I own. We'd be here for months if I went through and listed every time capsule I have for all of my CDs. I sat down a while ago and made of list of all the specific songs here.

I'd list whole albums, but we'd be here for freaking ever.

[echoboom.livejournal.com]

i wrote somethings when my last GF and i broke up.
regarding music and how it can be hard to listen to some songs.

to paraphrase:

you take that song that was special for the two of you and you dont avoid it. you listen to it. over and over. program the repeat and step aside.
you play the hell out of that song until it starts to get back to its original meaning-- a really good song by a really great band.
this doesnt mean that youll forget its signifance associated with the past, but it wont mean as much.