It’s been said for countless years that it is our scent that brings us back in time…that it is our cellular memory for a specific smell that instantly reminds of us of a specific place, or more specifically, a person. This past week though, I’ve come to the conclusion that while our brains may be hardwired to associate scent, our hearts are programmed to beat to the rhythm of music.
Last weekend, Steve and I bought a new 80GB iPod. This new addition to our Apple collection is in anticipation of our big move coming up in February and our desire to purge certain parts of our past instead of packing it all in boxes en route to a new destination. Sometimes a good cleaning simply needs to be done!!
Back in May, we sorted through nearly 400 cds in preparation for the Great Glebe Garage Sale. While most of our cds were well worth keeping, some mistakes are better left behind…so for the bargain price of $0.50 apiece, we were willing to let someone else make the same mistake!!! Garage sale entrepreneurial skills aside though, we were still left with over 300 cds that we certainly wanted to keep but, realistically, we were never listening to anymore because most of our music was now being stored on our computers.
Much to my amazement, our new little toy had more memory than our PC computer and can store enough of our electronic lives to make my grandmother roll over in her grave!! With that being said, we decided that it was time to load all of our music and begin sorting it so that we could start enjoying our entire collection once again. So that’s what we’ve been doing all week…going disc by disc, loading our music and rating each song in order to make all 96 consecutive hours of our new found listening a bit more manageable!!
For five consecutive nights after work, as I sat on our living room floor, surrounded with little square plastic cases, I was reminded of how much time it has taken me to collect all of this music. Even in my poorest of days, I somehow always found the pennies to buy a new album. That’s when I realized just how much of my past is encrypted in these little silver discs.
Most woman possess various “parting gifts” from their past relationships…whether it be a favourite sweatshirt, a handful of photographs or in some cases, monumental battle scars from a war that was lost at the hands of time. In my case, without even realizing it, I securely stored the memories of my dating history in my music collection because, like Victor Hugo once said “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent”. While the men in my life may have come and gone over the years, they have all left a significant imprint on my musical taste, which in turn, has resulted in a musical collection that has overcome the test of time!
“…And all the roads that lead to you were winding and all the lights that light the way are blinding. There are many things that I would like to say to you…but I don’t know how…” ~ Wonderwall, Oasis
Julio was my first serious boyfriend back in high school. We were from different sides of the tracks and like all first relationships, it was all consuming. We got in endless trouble for sneaking out of each other’s bedroom windows during all hours of the night and nothing made us feel more oppressed than being grounded from seeing each other. In a time when the alternative likes of Pearl Jam and Nirvana were first making their appearances, we were captured by the world of R&B and any other album that could remind you of just how lonely you really were (teenagers are so intense and dramatic!!)!!! We listened to Lauren Hill before she became “miseducated” and chased waterfalls with TLC. While I haven’t purchased a R&B cd in over fifteen years, CrazySexyCool and The Fugees will not only bring me back to long adolescent nights in London with Julio, but will remain two of the best albums of all time!
“…And like his promise is true, only my faith can undo the many chances I blew to bring my life to anew. Clear and blue and unconditional, skies have dried the tears from my eyes, no more lonely cries.” ~ Waterfalls, TLC
My first year of university was marked by numerous events; The death of Princess Diana, the great ice storm of 1998, my gorgeous French boyfriend and new albums by Oasis and Sarah McLachlan and U2. Sebastien and I suffered from lust at first sight…which certainly wasn’t the worst condition to have when you are away from home for the first time!!! For the eight months of my first year (he was in second year), Mirrorball could be heard throughout the halls of Thompson Residence. Seb and I lived nowhere other than the present. We were lost in each other and Big Shiny Tunes! It was hopeless from the very start!! Late nights in our new city, new friends, a coffee revolution and a heartbreaking crash when it all came to an end the following summer. It’s good to know that at least some things from that year lasted!!
“All the fear has left me now, I’m not frightened anymore. It’s my heart that pounds beneath my flesh, it’s my mouth that pushes out this breath…And if I shed a tear, I won’t cage it…and if I feel a rage, I won’t deny it…I won’t fear love…” ~ Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, Sarah McLachlan
The summer of 1999 brought Vince, my first true love and just like my life, he influenced my musical taste in a way that changed forever. Vince had a brilliant musical mind. He worked in the radio industry and was a phenomenal performer himself. He single handedly turned me into a concert junkie!! The summer that he walked into my life I not only fell in love for the first time but, I fell in love with rock music for the first time. I fell fast and I fell hard!! Creed, Stone Temple Pilots, U2, Travis, Oasis, The Tea Party, Our Lady Peace, Staind, Smashing Pumpkins, Coldplay…oh let me count the ways!!! Even now, if I hear certain songs, I can picture him playing his guitar at the Elbow Room…his dark hair and the raspy voice that comes from too many years of smoking!!
However, like all great loves, when they come to an end, certain things become off limits during the treacherous time of recovery. In this case, most Ottawa landmarks and my love affair with rock music were among them!!! On top of that, a post break-up encounter locked all of Nickelback’s early albums off the radar for a while too!!
“I see your shadow on the street now, I hear you push through the rusty gate. Click of your heels on the concrete, waiting for a knock coming way too late. It seems an age since I’ve seen you, countdown as the weeks trickle into days…” ~ My Happiness, Powderfinger
Once the dust of Vince had settled and I opened my eyes again, I came across the tall and devastatingly handsome, Damon. The charm, the smile and the eyes were enough to make anyone’s heart start beating again!! At the risk of sounding too much like Meredith Grey though, Damon was my “non-boyfriend”…the guy that I never actually dated but still took me a year to get over!!! He had cast his curse of the perfect kiss on me and just like that…my cd collection grew once more!!!
Something about Damon reminds me of the ocean. He was a very free spirit that somehow, seemed so forbidden to me. The ocean is one of nature’s most spectacular creations but, it’s also a dangerous force to be reckoned with and simply isn’t meant to be tamed. With a foot here and a foot somewhere else, he reminded me of what it was like to stare deep into the crystal clear water…always thinking that you can see the bottom and never realizing just how deep really you are. Perhaps on the shores of the ocean it would have worked, but on the solid soil of land, I just found myself longing for someone that I couldn’t have. My time with Damon was short lived but, the soundtracks to the Beach and Blue Crush were not.
“…On a clear day, I’ll fly home to you. I’m bending time getting back to you. Old moons fades into the new…soon I know I’ll be back with you. I’m nearly with you…” ~ Destiny, Zero 7 (Blue Crush Soundtrack)
Then, of course, there is the single man that simply can’t be compared; the one that managed to pull me out of the chaos and love me despite all of my musical taste!! The soundtrack of my marriage isn’t a musical accompaniment to devastating last words or the background music of our first meeting. Rather, it’s burned onto a pile of cds in our car as commemorations of every road trip we’ve taken together. Much of our relationship has been spent behind the wheel of a car and much like driving, our relationship entails the two of us, side by side, looking ahead in the same direction. Unlike my past relationships, my marriage is always in motion. We are constantly on the road because we simply feel no need to stand still. Life is about growing and discovering and for the first time, I haven’t had to choose one over the other. Whether on the coast of the Hawaiian Islands, the South-Western Ontario highways back home or our trans-pacific adventure to Australia, we always have our favourite road trip songs in tow; Linkin Park, Chevell, Sensefield, Mobile, Lifehouse, Eddie Veder, Blue Rodeo, Lenny Kravitz, 3 Doors Down…and anything else worthy of being blared out of the car windows with our luggage in the trunk!! When the sun setting on the horizon leaves us without any more words…there is always the music.
“I wish that I could fly, into the sky, so very high, just like a dragonfly. I’d fly above the trees, over the seas in all degrees, to anywhere I please. Let’s go and see the stars, the milky way or even Mars, where it could just be ours. Let’s fade into the sun, let your spirit fly, where we are one, just for a little fun…” ~ Fly Away, Lenny Kravitz
And when there wasn’t butterflies in my stomach and a date to be had…there was David Usher, John Mayer, Raine Maida, Aaron Lewis, Dave Matthews and many other beautiful boys to sing me to sleep. After all, until I found the perfect man, I would have the perfect cd collection!!
Like the books on my shelves and the photos in my albums, my music collection is like a road map of my life, indicating where I’ve been and whom I traveled with along the way. I can trace back the days of long stretches in the back country and the random detours of poor judgment but, in the end, all roads lead here; Steve and I compiling our collective pasts as we move ahead into our hopeful future.
Last weekend, Steve and I bought a new 80GB iPod. This new addition to our Apple collection is in anticipation of our big move coming up in February and our desire to purge certain parts of our past instead of packing it all in boxes en route to a new destination. Sometimes a good cleaning simply needs to be done!!
Back in May, we sorted through nearly 400 cds in preparation for the Great Glebe Garage Sale. While most of our cds were well worth keeping, some mistakes are better left behind…so for the bargain price of $0.50 apiece, we were willing to let someone else make the same mistake!!! Garage sale entrepreneurial skills aside though, we were still left with over 300 cds that we certainly wanted to keep but, realistically, we were never listening to anymore because most of our music was now being stored on our computers.
Much to my amazement, our new little toy had more memory than our PC computer and can store enough of our electronic lives to make my grandmother roll over in her grave!! With that being said, we decided that it was time to load all of our music and begin sorting it so that we could start enjoying our entire collection once again. So that’s what we’ve been doing all week…going disc by disc, loading our music and rating each song in order to make all 96 consecutive hours of our new found listening a bit more manageable!!
For five consecutive nights after work, as I sat on our living room floor, surrounded with little square plastic cases, I was reminded of how much time it has taken me to collect all of this music. Even in my poorest of days, I somehow always found the pennies to buy a new album. That’s when I realized just how much of my past is encrypted in these little silver discs.
Most woman possess various “parting gifts” from their past relationships…whether it be a favourite sweatshirt, a handful of photographs or in some cases, monumental battle scars from a war that was lost at the hands of time. In my case, without even realizing it, I securely stored the memories of my dating history in my music collection because, like Victor Hugo once said “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent”. While the men in my life may have come and gone over the years, they have all left a significant imprint on my musical taste, which in turn, has resulted in a musical collection that has overcome the test of time!
“…And all the roads that lead to you were winding and all the lights that light the way are blinding. There are many things that I would like to say to you…but I don’t know how…” ~ Wonderwall, Oasis
Julio was my first serious boyfriend back in high school. We were from different sides of the tracks and like all first relationships, it was all consuming. We got in endless trouble for sneaking out of each other’s bedroom windows during all hours of the night and nothing made us feel more oppressed than being grounded from seeing each other. In a time when the alternative likes of Pearl Jam and Nirvana were first making their appearances, we were captured by the world of R&B and any other album that could remind you of just how lonely you really were (teenagers are so intense and dramatic!!)!!! We listened to Lauren Hill before she became “miseducated” and chased waterfalls with TLC. While I haven’t purchased a R&B cd in over fifteen years, CrazySexyCool and The Fugees will not only bring me back to long adolescent nights in London with Julio, but will remain two of the best albums of all time!
“…And like his promise is true, only my faith can undo the many chances I blew to bring my life to anew. Clear and blue and unconditional, skies have dried the tears from my eyes, no more lonely cries.” ~ Waterfalls, TLC
My first year of university was marked by numerous events; The death of Princess Diana, the great ice storm of 1998, my gorgeous French boyfriend and new albums by Oasis and Sarah McLachlan and U2. Sebastien and I suffered from lust at first sight…which certainly wasn’t the worst condition to have when you are away from home for the first time!!! For the eight months of my first year (he was in second year), Mirrorball could be heard throughout the halls of Thompson Residence. Seb and I lived nowhere other than the present. We were lost in each other and Big Shiny Tunes! It was hopeless from the very start!! Late nights in our new city, new friends, a coffee revolution and a heartbreaking crash when it all came to an end the following summer. It’s good to know that at least some things from that year lasted!!
“All the fear has left me now, I’m not frightened anymore. It’s my heart that pounds beneath my flesh, it’s my mouth that pushes out this breath…And if I shed a tear, I won’t cage it…and if I feel a rage, I won’t deny it…I won’t fear love…” ~ Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, Sarah McLachlan
The summer of 1999 brought Vince, my first true love and just like my life, he influenced my musical taste in a way that changed forever. Vince had a brilliant musical mind. He worked in the radio industry and was a phenomenal performer himself. He single handedly turned me into a concert junkie!! The summer that he walked into my life I not only fell in love for the first time but, I fell in love with rock music for the first time. I fell fast and I fell hard!! Creed, Stone Temple Pilots, U2, Travis, Oasis, The Tea Party, Our Lady Peace, Staind, Smashing Pumpkins, Coldplay…oh let me count the ways!!! Even now, if I hear certain songs, I can picture him playing his guitar at the Elbow Room…his dark hair and the raspy voice that comes from too many years of smoking!!
However, like all great loves, when they come to an end, certain things become off limits during the treacherous time of recovery. In this case, most Ottawa landmarks and my love affair with rock music were among them!!! On top of that, a post break-up encounter locked all of Nickelback’s early albums off the radar for a while too!!
“I see your shadow on the street now, I hear you push through the rusty gate. Click of your heels on the concrete, waiting for a knock coming way too late. It seems an age since I’ve seen you, countdown as the weeks trickle into days…” ~ My Happiness, Powderfinger
Once the dust of Vince had settled and I opened my eyes again, I came across the tall and devastatingly handsome, Damon. The charm, the smile and the eyes were enough to make anyone’s heart start beating again!! At the risk of sounding too much like Meredith Grey though, Damon was my “non-boyfriend”…the guy that I never actually dated but still took me a year to get over!!! He had cast his curse of the perfect kiss on me and just like that…my cd collection grew once more!!!
Something about Damon reminds me of the ocean. He was a very free spirit that somehow, seemed so forbidden to me. The ocean is one of nature’s most spectacular creations but, it’s also a dangerous force to be reckoned with and simply isn’t meant to be tamed. With a foot here and a foot somewhere else, he reminded me of what it was like to stare deep into the crystal clear water…always thinking that you can see the bottom and never realizing just how deep really you are. Perhaps on the shores of the ocean it would have worked, but on the solid soil of land, I just found myself longing for someone that I couldn’t have. My time with Damon was short lived but, the soundtracks to the Beach and Blue Crush were not.
“…On a clear day, I’ll fly home to you. I’m bending time getting back to you. Old moons fades into the new…soon I know I’ll be back with you. I’m nearly with you…” ~ Destiny, Zero 7 (Blue Crush Soundtrack)
Then, of course, there is the single man that simply can’t be compared; the one that managed to pull me out of the chaos and love me despite all of my musical taste!! The soundtrack of my marriage isn’t a musical accompaniment to devastating last words or the background music of our first meeting. Rather, it’s burned onto a pile of cds in our car as commemorations of every road trip we’ve taken together. Much of our relationship has been spent behind the wheel of a car and much like driving, our relationship entails the two of us, side by side, looking ahead in the same direction. Unlike my past relationships, my marriage is always in motion. We are constantly on the road because we simply feel no need to stand still. Life is about growing and discovering and for the first time, I haven’t had to choose one over the other. Whether on the coast of the Hawaiian Islands, the South-Western Ontario highways back home or our trans-pacific adventure to Australia, we always have our favourite road trip songs in tow; Linkin Park, Chevell, Sensefield, Mobile, Lifehouse, Eddie Veder, Blue Rodeo, Lenny Kravitz, 3 Doors Down…and anything else worthy of being blared out of the car windows with our luggage in the trunk!! When the sun setting on the horizon leaves us without any more words…there is always the music.
“I wish that I could fly, into the sky, so very high, just like a dragonfly. I’d fly above the trees, over the seas in all degrees, to anywhere I please. Let’s go and see the stars, the milky way or even Mars, where it could just be ours. Let’s fade into the sun, let your spirit fly, where we are one, just for a little fun…” ~ Fly Away, Lenny Kravitz
And when there wasn’t butterflies in my stomach and a date to be had…there was David Usher, John Mayer, Raine Maida, Aaron Lewis, Dave Matthews and many other beautiful boys to sing me to sleep. After all, until I found the perfect man, I would have the perfect cd collection!!
Like the books on my shelves and the photos in my albums, my music collection is like a road map of my life, indicating where I’ve been and whom I traveled with along the way. I can trace back the days of long stretches in the back country and the random detours of poor judgment but, in the end, all roads lead here; Steve and I compiling our collective pasts as we move ahead into our hopeful future.
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