THE SONG by Jennifer Brummel birdietwoshoes@juno.com
There is a song by Trisha Yearwood called The Song Remembers When. “Though I had forgotten all about it,” she sings, “the song remembers when.” It’s strange how we can connect a melody with a memory. Times in our lives that aren’t even necessarily memorable are brought back to us in a flash by the first few measures of a song. And unforgettable moments are made even more special when you hear that song played on the radio.
When I was about five or six, I remember being in the living room with my babysitter, Becky. She brought over a tape and kept playing a certain song over and over. “’Cause every time I try to tell you the words just came out wrong. So I’ll have to say I love you in a song,” sang the man, accompanied by his guitar. Becky finally put me on tape player duty to press play and pause so she could write out the words to the song. To this day, whenever I hear Jim Croce’s I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song, I still think of Becky. It reminds me of those days of my childhood and how I loved hanging out with my babysitter.
On another occasion, I was at my Aunt and Uncle’s house for Christmas, and my cousin, Shannon, played a song for me. I was probably about eleven or so, and she was a few years older than me, so of course she was allowed to listen to the newest and coolest music. I remember looking at the picture on the cover of the album and wondering, “Who is this crazy lady with the shaved head?” Then the distinctive voice of Ireland’s Sinead O’Connor began to sing, “It’s been seven hours and fifteen days since you took your love away.” That was the first time I’d ever heard Sinead O’Connor. And years later, after hearing Nothing Compares 2 You on the radio, I suddenly remembered the night Shannon and I sat in her bedroom listening to the crazy lady with the shaved head.
It turns out Trisha Yearwood is right; the song does remember when. So the next time you’re in your car and the radio starts playing that familiar music you haven’t heard for years, turn it up and sing along. Let the melody bring you back to the memory you thought you had forgotten. And remember, as the song says, “Even if the whole world has forgotten, the song remembers when.”