Random Access Memory

I love the ability to instantly recall a memory as the result of some sensory input. The most intense memories for me always happen due to sound and smell ... the former more than the latter, typically. Any memory-jogging stimulus can be moving, but certain songs never fail to stop me in my tracks.

The following songs have the distinct ability to cease whatever productive function I might have been performing. I'm sure there are more, but this is what I found on my iPod this morning:

1. The Zone [Dreamscapes in Four Parts with a Door], The Cadets
For obvious reasons I will stop whatever I'm doing if any part of this show comes within my hearing range. Often I'll simply close my eyes and let myself mentally perform the show again. In my memories, though, there's never any pain or injury or exhaustion ... just the Holy Name. It's glorious.

2. Dancer, Bjork
This song comes on and I see a sunrise, a morning, or a new day. There's such a simple elegance and sense of hope to it that I can't help but feel moved each time it's played. Recently it's also become the song my alarm clock plays in the morning.

3. Till There Was You, Empire Brass
It's a great ballad anyway, but the Empire Brass made it into a trombone solo.

4. Sun and Moon, Miss Saigon
I began marching with the CHS band in 2000, the year that the band played the music of Miss Saigon. Although we never fared very well competitively, that season will always be one of the favorite Falls of my life. I mention this song in particular because it was arguably the most effective part of the show ... the first half was played backfield, eventually leading to the climax as the two halves of the band merged together, turned forward, and kneeled as one. My Mom said that at Finals that moment made her cry.

5. Reve Rouge, Cirque De Soleil
The only saxophone solo I have ever loved, let alone could stand for more than 6 seconds.

6. 23 Degrees North, 82 Degrees West, Stan Kenton
This song has one of the most badass trombone features that has ever been written for big band jazz. It also has the late Maynard Ferguson in his prime, squealing unnecessarily high for unnecessarily long periods of time. The 2004 CHS jazz band certainly didn't do it justice, but at Finals I hit the Db in the solo and man was it fun to play.

7. Touch Me, Spring Awakening
To me this song is the closest anyone has ever come to musically representing the sensation of sharing your heart, mind, and body with another. If you haven't heard it or the show itself, do so immediately.

8. Batman, Danny Elfman
I love the Dark Knight.

9. For Good, Wicked
This song actually spurns up a couple of ideas whenever I hear it, many of them very sad. The first is what's going to happen a year from now, at college graduation ... I'm realizing more and more that there are many friends I will miss very dearly upon our departure from Old South Mountain. It's a day I'm looking forward to as a triumph but also dreading for what it will truly mean. New beginnings can be so tough, although I think this time we're all more ready than we were for the last few.

The other, more macabre notion I think of when this song plays is the loss of the older members of my family in the decades to come. I know I shouldn't be thinking of that, but my grandparents don't live the healthiest lifestyle and are gradually becoming more and more stereotypically "old." The verse that gets me is the one Elphaba sings alone ... "you'll be with me like a handprint on my heart."

10. Danny Boy, Irish Tune
I've mentioned this one before. The performance went very well, at least for me.


Happy Wednesday ... and listen to something that moves you today, if you can. It's always worth it.