the power of music

i'm watching rage at the moment and once again the power of music to pull me back to particular places in time has astounded me. listening to certain songs is like a time machine. they just showed the clip for joe jackson's "steppin' out" which always takes me back to the trampoline and putt putt centre in augusta (around the corner from the colour patch general store) where we'd go as kids in 1983. they played a compilation cassette over and over and the songs that i most remember from it were steppin' out and UB40's cover of red red wine. every time i hear either of those songs i'm immediately back there.

next they played 'smooth operator' by sade and suddenly i'm a 14yo year 9 student at scarborough high school waiting for stephen buhlman to bring me a tape-2-tape copy of a compilation cassette with that song on it.

it's the same when i hear 'last chance on the stairway' by duran duran off their incredible 'rio' album. it always takes me back to kalbarri in 1986 when brett arnott came on holiday with us. i'd only just bought 'rio' (4 years after it's release) and this was the only track i hadn't heard before so it stuck in my mind.

now comes on 'superfreak' by rick james. this always takes me back to the mid 90s and into adam brown's flat in vic park with the como bapo youth group as it was the first time i heard this song. yep... i heard mc hammer's sample before i heard the original.

another song that always takes me back is the rather awful '(i've just had) the time of my life' from the dirty dancing soundtrack. it pulls me back to 1988 and the school bus on the way back from our year 12 camp at club capricorn just outside of yanchep. for some unknown reason the girls loved the dirty dancing soundtrack and inflicted it on us as we headed back from camp.

i could keep going on but i won't. the point is that music has a stunning ability to transport one back to a certain place and time. it does it better than any other medium and the sensory feelings it brings are undeniable. i don't know how it affects others but for me, i grieve deeply for my lost youth. i guess that says a lot.