Friday, March 20, 2009

Treasure hunt: "Before your time" mix

For some reason, today I'm feeling nostalgic about songs that mean nothing to me. While flipping channels and eating some homemade fried rice, I came across that Visa ad with Morgan Freeman and the aquarium featuring "Tuesday afternoon" by the Moody Blues and I almost started weeping. Why? No idea.

Up a few channels to HBO territory and Footloose is on; despite being momentarily distracted by Sarah Jessica Parker's unfortunate 80's hair, I nearly swooned to Foreigner's "Waiting for a girl like you." Again, the reason why is totally beyond me.

Now despite the fact that both bands were before my time (and not in a cool way like Led Zeppelin or Joy Division or the Beatles but rather in the way that makes me ask myself "Why the hell do I like Foreigner and the Moody Blues?"**) I have happy memories of other songs by them, namely "Nights in White Satin" and "I Want to Know What Love Is." But there is no reason that these two particular songs should be triggering any kind of emotional response. Unless...

What if both songs were evoking not a specific memory per se but rather the feeling of an era that I would never be a part of, one that had come and gone before my time?

Without further ado, this very first treasure hunt will call upon you to create a playlist that adheres to the following guidelines:
-The songs must have been popular "before your time."
-The songs need not be cool. Get a few cool tracks on there, sure, but the more dorky and terrible songs your list includes, the more likely I will be moved by your honesty. Think prog rock, metal, and hair bands.
-The songs needn't call to mind a specific memory but they should evoke a weird, weepy wave of nostalgia about a time that you didn't actually experience, a time that was just beyond your reach.

Here's mine):
1. Crazy Train (Black Sabbath)
2. More than a feeling (Boston)
3. Waiting for a girl like you (Foreigner)
4. Open Arms (Journey)
5. Closer to the heart (Rush)
6. 18 and life (Skid Row)
7. Aqualung (Jethro Tull)
8. Don't Fear the Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult)
9. You Can Do Magic (America)
10. Time of the Season (The Zombies)
11. Crimson and Clover (Tommy James and The Shondelles)
12. A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum)
13. Tuesday afternoon (The Moody Blues)

The person who submits the list I like best will get a free copy of my new book! Just put your answers in the comments section, I guess.

**Yes, I know that it's not totally fair to the Moody Blues to compare them with Foreigner. Still.

7 comments:

  1. How do you not have "Africa" or "Roseanna". Toto always evokes something.

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  2. Hi Sarah,

    Here are some songs that punch me in the gut every time I hear them (thankfully, they're not on high rotation at the local Top 40 station):

    "Chances Are" - Johnny Mathis. This reminds me of lying in bed as a kid with my mother at the end of a long day when she's tired from her two jobs and just want to lie in bed with me and listen to soft music.

    "Look What You've Done To Me" - Boz Scaggs. The first time a boy ever asked me to dance was to this song at an '80s party. I was so excited I immediately accepted. Then I realized he had knee-weakening B.O. and I barely made it through the song. But I still get nostalgic when I hear it because it was the first time a boy found me attractive.

    "Longer" - Dan Fogelberg. English isn't my first language and when I first came to this country, this song helped me learn comparative forms of adjectives.

    "I Was Made for Dancing" - Leif Garrett. My dad bought me a used record player that only played 45s. Someone had left this record in there and I played it over and over, thinking how cool it would be if my only purpose in life was dancing.

    I could go on but I think this list is dorky enough. I hope I win a copy of your book!

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  3. 1.Honestly, for some reason that old big band song (I do not know the name of) reminds me of a time that I was not a part of. The song is the one that people would dance the Charleston to.
    2. The weight (The Band) gets me everytime
    3. Old Man (Neil Young)
    4. Band on the Run (Wings)
    5. School's Out (Alice Cooper)
    6. Hard to Say I'm Sorry (Chicago)
    7. Inspiration (Chicago) Which one is in Karate Kid Part 2
    8. Fast Car (Tracy Chapman) I don't know what to say.
    9. Stray Cat Strut (Stray Cats)
    10. Winds of Change (Scorpians)

    As a liscensed Social Worker, I think that I
    could look at these songs like Freud looked at dreams. These songs mean or meant something to me that has been repressed into the deep down subconscience. Could be a useful threapy tool!
    Matt H

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. This list evokes a different kind of nostalgia--it feels like joy, until the song ends and you realize that it's a kind of joy you'll never be a part of, because you weren't alive in 1969. I submit for your consideration:

    1. Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones)
    2. Strawberry Fields Forever (Beatles)
    3. Castles Made of Sand (Jimi Hendrix)
    4. A Simple Desultory Phillipic (Simon & Garfunkel)
    5. Victoria (The Kinks)
    6. Lodi (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
    7. All You Need Is Love (Beatles, again)
    8. Ventura Highway (America)
    9. Let It Rain (Eric Clapton)
    10.Sweet Virginia (Rolling Stones)

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  6. Ok...here's my list! If I win a free book, yay! But if not, I'll buy it anyway! Congrats Sarah!

    1. Make Me Lose Control (Eric Carmen)
    2. High On You (Survivor)
    3. Same Old Lang Syne (Dan Fogelberg)
    4. Sister Golden Hair (America)
    5. Cecelia (Simon & Garfunkel)
    6. Crimson and Clover (Tommy James & the Shondells)
    7. My First Night Without You (Cyndi Lauper)
    8. Any Way You Want It (Journey)
    9. She's Like the Wind (Patrick Swayze)
    10. Daydream Believer (The Monkees)

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  7. You're in for a surprise. You're in for a shock. But, I'm a little bit country, and I'm also a little bit rock 'n' roll. And, a whole hell of a lot of singer/songwriter, obviously.

    1. Year of the Cat (Al Stewart)
    2. Don't Fear the Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult)
    3. Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves (Cher)
    4. Honky Tonkin' (Hank Williams)
    5. Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty)
    6. Taxi (Harry Chapin)
    7. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (AC/DC)
    8. I'm Not In Love (10cc)
    9. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)
    10. Closer to the Heart (Rush)
    11. Aqualung (Jethro Tull)
    12. Love Is the Drug (Roxy Music)
    13. Gold (John Stewart)
    14. The Ripper (Judas Priest)
    15. East Bound and Down (Jerry Reed)
    Hidden songs: Magic (Olivia Newton John) and Morning Train (Sheena Easton)

    I blame this list on the combination of an unfinished basement with a stack of my dad's Playboy collection in the corner, Uncles named Toots, Doc and Punk, and growing up the middle child between two sister.

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