My Music and Me!

 MUSIC AND MEMORY

My first example for music and memory is from the artist Iron and Wine. The artist's name is Sam Beam, but his music is all posted under Iron and Wine! I love almost all of his music! He plays indie folk music and some long songs that lean more digital, and some songs that lean way into acoustic instrumentation. Most of his music mainly reminds me of summertime. The music just has a very warm feeling to it because of the mostly acoustic instruments and thick harmonies. Sam has one particular album that explicitly reminds me of fall time. The only way to explain it is if you wrapped falltime up in an album!

This is one of Sam's brand new songs from an otherwise unreleased album! But the vibe is still standing strong!

P.S. there is an official music video for this song, but I found it distracting from the very beautiful very poetic lyrics.

The next song that really takes me back is Danke Schoen by Wayne Newton. This song really reminds me so much of Christmas time, ironically! When I was about sixteen, I had a really good friend in high school, and we both went to different schools. Well, early in the morning, before he went to school, he would call me, and we would have bible study. This was obviously his code for "I'm going to use bible study as an excuse to call the girl I like every day”. I just have the most vivid memory of being in my young self's room with all my Christmas decorations up, and I would put on this song Danke Schoen " every day while I waited for him to call. I went through a phase where all I would listen to was oldies like this, and I still love them to this day.

Both of these musical examples take me back super vividly in very different ways. The music by Iron and Wine takes me back to a specific feeling and gives me a feeling of joy and happiness. This is partly because of how the music sounds to me, but also because I listened to a lot of this music last summer while I was traveling. Where Danke Schoen vividly reminds me of a specific memory. This is because I listened to this one specific song in one very specific, very short time in my life.

Going wayyyyy back now to the earliest memories I have with music. Ten-year-old Ashley had quite an extensive collection of cassette tapes. At some point in time, I got a hold of about 15 or so amazing tapes, and I was immediately hooked. Short story long, my dad owns his own construction company, and one of his customers gave him several hundred cassette tapes after she found out I was interested in them. Well, he brought them all home to me, and I actually received them on christmas morning, so it literally was like christmas morning! Little girl Ashley would put on her 90s Dell headphones and grab her Walkman and go to town. Listening to all my favorites: Oak Ridge Boys, Beach Boys, Elton John, Elvis, Dion DiMucci, and many, many more! (I still put headphones on and dance around my house, to my family's dismay...)

I digress, the first album I ever truly loved was Too Low for Zero by Elton John. I could not tell what about it stuck out to me so much, but I could not get enough, and I now own the album on cassette, CD, and vinyl. That being said, it is very difficult to pick one song from the album to present; however, I picked the title track. Honorable mentions are " I'm Still Standing (DUH), I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues, Crystal, and Kiss the Bride.

Thanks For Reading 

A.M.P