View Full Version : the power of a song
I don't know if this is a media post but...
This morning on the way in I was mindlessly listening to the radio and then a song came on - Helplessly Hoping by Crosby, Stills and Nash. I had not heard it in years but was instantly transported back to some other decade when it seemed like life was more heartfelt, lyrical and introspective than anything today. I turned it up very loud and sang along as if I were 17 again with waist-length hair blowing in the breeze sitting on someone's front porch all singing together and passing a communal joint around. Oh memories...the power of a song.
No kidding...music has had such a foothold on my life since I was a pre-teen, that, like you, the lyrics come back so easily. It does stir you, which I guess is the whole point! Not just oldies, but contemporary stuff grips me as well.
I can remember lyrics such as "Helplessly Hoping," but I can't remember what I wore Monday and if I'm re-wearing the same outfit Thursday. LOL!
Oh just the thought of your great memory bring a smile:) Music too is a big part of my life, I can remember just about where I was at in life and where I bought all those old albums. I then can use music like the rings on a tree. There is a thin part or missing few years when I had little kids. Then it bounced right back. I had always loved music I remember as a small child, then one day in 1971ish at 10 years old I heard Rod's Maggie May. Too young to understand the story, but the music I loved. I bought the 45 rpm for about 65 cents or so at South End K Mart in Port Huron, Mi. In 1974 ish I heard Blood on the Tracks on a lunch show on WABX in Detroit. Dylan became a main stay in my love of music to this day. Oh I could go on, but others will have stories too.
Sad Eyed Lady
5-28-14, 7:25pm
Music is the surest form of time travel...... it takes you back to the time and place where you first heard a great song.
They say music is the thing that sticks with us the most. I'm imagining all of us baby boomers in the nursing home singing along to Beatles tunes ...
Blackdog Lin
5-28-14, 9:40pm
Your description was evocative, pinkytoe, and brought a smile to my face too.
Music and smells - both are extremely powerful to me, in the way of remembrance.
What a neat experience that was for you Pinkytoe! The cells of my body seem to really react to music. When I hear a song from the past that really transports me, I try not to listen to it too often, or it seems to lose its ride for me.
One song that really lifts me up is "Fantasy" by Earth, Wind and Fire. There were sooooo many songs of the 70's that were really great. And like you said Pinkytoe, music back then seemed to be more "heartfelt, lyrical and introspective."
Music has such power.
There might be quantum reasons for how we react to music of our younger days.. In one of Deepak Chopra's books, he talks about a study that was performed in which a bunch of 70-ish year old men had a physical evaluation to baseline specific biological markers, both physical and mental and then asked to show up for a "retreat."
Then they were asked to come to the retreat with NOTHING that represented any time after 1959. No newspapers, books, photos, etc. They were asked to comingle with the other older men, but they had to role play as if it were still 1959. In the rooms they played music from 1959. As a result, they got younger!
The results that compared to the control group (which also went to the same retreat, but lived in the present, the men who play-acted as their younger selves became more active, more self sufficient, had better posture, improved muscle strength and hearing. Over half even exhibited greater intelligence as shown by an IQ test.
Music becomes encoded in our brains, fusing experiences with the music itself, so I think the fact that they played the music from 1959 really helped them become younger. There's a great book called "This is Your Brain On Music" and it's fascinating scientific stuff about how music and the cognitive part of our brain is so intertwined. I think there's a reason that a lot of really smart people have been raised to play instruments--can they play because they are smart, or are they smarter because of the interplay in their brains between the music and their capacity to learn? Who knows?
But the findings of that study in Deepak Chopra's book were that the "hidden" aspects of our awareness and attention can cause our bodies to follow suit. SO, if our awareness and attention is on music from our past, is it possible that our cells are actually "behaving" differently because of how that music has encoded itself in our brains? As a market researcher in the pharmaceutical industry, I am constantly amazed at the efficacy of the placebo effect.
When I first read that study, I went out and got the Time Life CD set of songs from the 60s, and played them in my car all the time "for medicinal purposes." Yes, I REALLY felt younger with the windows rolled down singing along with music from "Hair" at the top of my lungs!
(Hmm, maybe I'll have some Jefferson Airplane for breakfast).
LOL catherine! Right on! :)
In my experience, it can also bring on great sadness. when my children were young, and DD could play the piano, I was going through a rough time emotionally. I can remember asking her one morning to please stop playing a certain tune on the piano because it made my sadness so much worse.
I can also remember years ago when I was visiting my parents' house and there was music on the stereo. I said to my father "That music is sooooo sad". He looked very confused and couldn't understand what I was talking about.
I also remember not being able to listen to much music after a guy broke up with me a long time ago.
haha........I remember a Praego tomato sauce commerical awhile back that would almost make me cry. Seems like violins have that ability, more than some other instruments.
Both my children are musicians............and I'm so very glad.
Once, a friend of mine asked "What exactly is it that makes a piece of music happy or sad?" I couldn't give her an answer. I don't know if its the chord progression or what. Of course, "minor" has more sad-potential, but it seems like much more than that.
This is an interesting thread!
Just seems like some of us are "programmed" to be in tune with music more.
In my experience, it can also bring on great sadness. when my children were young, and DD could play the piano, I was going through a rough time emotionally. I can remember asking her one morning to please stop playing a certain tune on the piano because it made my sadness so much worse.
I can also remember years ago when I was visiting my parents' house and there was music on the stereo. I said to my father "That music is sooooo sad". He looked very confused and couldn't understand what I was talking about.
I also remember not being able to listen to much music after a guy broke up with me a long time ago.
haha........I remember a Praego tomato sauce commerical awhile back that would almost make me cry. Seems like violins have that ability, more than some other instruments.
Even guitars be sad I guess--Just got this on my FB feed and it seems to be a good response to your post, CathyA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=L-5M1_DKvb0
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