“One song can bring back 1000 memories.” (Mojo TV) – as seen on the Jack’s Winning Words blog. For those not from this area, Mojo is a local DJ and personality who does radio and TV work in the Detroit area.
I’ve written here a few times about the impact that music has on our lives and how some tunes can invoke strong reactions or memories. There are songs that we associate with happy occasions like weddings and some that are remembered as part of funerals. Many couples have “their song”, the special song that they remember from a dance or a date or a special occasion in their lives. Almost anyone who has had an American wedding and reception can remember the hokey pokey song or maybe the Chicken Dance. Many ethic weddings have their own ethic music and dances that are brought to mid by certain tunes.
Jack went on to write that the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, from the Wizard of Oz, is one of his favorites, because of its message of hope. I tried to use Google to find out what the most popular songs are for women and men. The results really are determined by how you phrase the search. The top ten power songs for women are shown in this YouTube video. For men it depended greatly on the search too, with this compilation of the top 10 Karaoke songs that men like to sing along to seeming to be a good answer. In other results women liked the more romantic songs based upon love stories while men choose sports or action themed songs. Who woulda thunk it?
It’s been quite a while since music or catchy songs had much real impact on my life, but I still recall the songs that seemed so important in my youth and a few can still make a feeling weal up inside. These days I’m as likely to be humming or quietly singing a song from our church service as anything. There’s something honest and reassuring about many of the little tunes that we sing during a service that make them stick in your head. Perhaps I’m gravitating towards the funeral song end of the musical spectrum as I get older, but I prefer to think of the church songs that stick in my head now as being songs of hope, too.
Music and songs provide important parts of the overall experience in movies and in life. Try to imagine a movie without the background music to help set the mood. Music and song play a similar role in our lives. What songs stick in your head? What songs bring back fond memories or memories of things that you’d rather forget? What are the songs of your life? If you want to have an all-night discussion with friends, ask the question, “What was the greatest song ever made?” Again, it depends upon how you ask the question in Google. The answer to a question what are the top ten rock songs of all time returns the list at the end of this link. However, ask what the top 10 country songs of all time are and you get what’s at this link. One could go on and on thorough the various genres. Of course it always and must come down to you – what do your think is the best song ever? Then it is.