Musical question

[firecat]

Songs that, when you first heard them, reminded you of things that hadn't happened to you yet.

Do you have any?

(This post brought to you by "Diamonds & Rust," which I first heard when I was 18, and "Killing Me Softly," which I first heard when I was 8, I think [ETA: I must have been 11 or 12, because the version I heard didn't come out until 1973])

Comments

[senmut]

No. I seem to have the 'hear a song and get an overly specific memory of hearing it before'.

[firecat]

When you haven't actually heard it before? Cool!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I don't have a good answer but I think "Killing Me Softly" is a very evocative song, so I'm not surprised it provoked future nostalgia. In the same vein, maybe "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac?

[firecat]

Yes, I can see how "Landslide" might do it.

[jazzfish]

"29" by Gin Blossoms, which I heard at, um, fifteen? Sixteen? That was a really interesting moment of "this song is going to be extremely relevant to me someday but right now it's just vaguely melancholy."

[firecat]

And did it turn out it relevant someday?

[jazzfish]

It did indeed! I spent much of my twenty-ninth year FINALLY finishing up my undergrad degree (a process which felt more like "The Distance" by Cake than any sort of achievement) and ... still bumming around in Blacksburg, making acceptable money for small-town 2006 and hanging out with college students.

29 you'd think I'd know better
Living like a kid
When my lies may seem less than clever
Is when I fall for it
Only time will tell if wishing wells
Will bring us anything...

Thankfully I got tired enough of it that summer to move to the DC area and find a job.

[firecat]

Hanging out in the college town past the appropriate age, that sounds familiar.

[ljgeoff]

Yes, Fleetwood Mac's Landslide

[firecat]

Aha, two votes for that! Yes.

[greghousesgf]

Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum makes me think of a plane taking off when you're on your way to a new chapter in life.

[firecat]

I can see that! It's a good song. It reminds me of "Radar Love" by Golden Earring.

[snippy]

Inna gadda da vida. OMG. I was a kid, surrounded by adults who were doing drugs ALL THE TIME. The apartment was full of ultraviolet posters. And it was truly frightening to think that I might do that eventually.

[firecat]

Ack! I'm glad your self-prediction didn't come true!

(I'm listening to the song now...I used to like it a lot, but it hasn't aged well.)

[bitterlawngnome]

Eurythmics, _I Remember You_
Everything But The Girl, _Missing_

[firecat]

Oh yeah, both of those.

[bitterlawngnome]

I was going to say, something by Kate Bush, but it's hard to separate whether the song caused the feeling it would come to represent or whether it found the event it was meant for.

[firecat]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I can see how Kate Bush would inspire such experiences.

[flippac]

These days Killing Me Softly (I only really know the Fugees version) mostly reminds me of gaslighting gender shrinks. Also one ex, though not a guy.

[firecat]

That sounds unpleasant.

The version I heard first was Roberta Flack's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4A5XuMz_Tw

[wordweaverlynn]

"Sunrise, Sunset," which we sang in chorus when I was in about fifth grade. Somebody thought it would be adorable to have kids singing about how your kids grow up too fast.