Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Songs are Memories

Few days ago, few of our friends we coming back from a road trip and the person in the passenger seat changed the CD to a collection of old songs. The whole car went quite, and the songs came to life.

That is when I realized that each song has a memory attached to it. When we listen to a song that we used to listen, when we were kids, we become that age. Each of us had different memories associated to these songs, but we all had memories.

The whole while that CD was playing all six of us were in our own world and the SUV was so quiet.

10-15 years from now if we hear Silsila hai Chahat ka from Devdas are we going to have the same feeling that we felt that day? I think NO, maybe the songs are not as great as they used to make them years ago, OR we may have grown up and we do not associate songs to feelings anymore.

I think the latter is true.

23 comments:

Geo said...

Does it happen only with old songs?

Songs are like placeholders for memories.

Ginkgo said...

old songs do evoke a diff set of nostalgia..

Happens everytime I play the collection when we do long distance trips...

almost everyone starts to hum that song...something u'll never get with new songs however popular they are...

Arun R said...

I have experienced it several times, don't know whether its true with others.

I love listening to songs, and with a song, the state of my mind and other things gets recorded in my mind.

For eg, whenever I hear the song "Thilotamma" from the tamil movie "Aasai", I'm reminded of all the tensions that I underwent in 10th, the pressure to study, perform, comeptition.

educatedunemployed said...

I agree, that some songs bring back good old memories.Its all about association I think.Some bring back painfull ones too..I just can't bear to hear Refugee songs.They r beautiful songs but everytime I hear them..damn..that evening..Ah, well..if we form new associations..I am sure in time to come we will be humming these songs as well..

educatedunemployed said...

Or may be they r not hummable at all..Just thinking..they do have more orchestra than words now-a-days na?

silverine said...

Even in our cafeteria when old songs play on Radio City, the whole lunch crowd goes silent :)

Bravecat said...

Depends on the feelings and memories attached to the songs :^)

I have it with songs, places, scents, expressions... You name it.

=^..^=

Thanu said...

$Geo
It has only happened to me with old songs. Or new songs as they get older.
Very well said about placeholders.

$Ginkgo
Very True.

$Arun R
SO many years and the song still brings those feelings.

$educatedunemployed
I don't think we will ever form/change the associations. Mind is a strange thing.

$The Moghul...
Very true, love for Phela Nasha has increased with time. But the memory of pehala nash alwaz remains the same. Me a kid in school, with 2 pony tails, skipping along singing this song with friends and drooling over Aamir khan.

$silverine
That feeling is so awesome.

$Qatar Cat
Now that U specified, I have it with scents too.

Rays Of Sun said...

Hmm..Oldies rock..anytime! I bet I would never listen to "Aashiq banaya aapne" in 15 years from now as much as I listen to "Chalti ka naam gadi"which was released much before than I was born:)

Vijay Ramamurthi said...

very tru..old songs do bring memories..

on the flip side, probably since the songs were so slow, everbody in the car were probably sleeping :)) sorry :D :)))

educatedunemployed said...

To the girl who made me popular..You have been tagged my lovely Thanu..See ya around..:D

divya said...

i agree..there is a memory ..a joy..associated with so many songs

Parth Anand said...

hmm...old songs had better lyrics..which conveyed human emotions beautifully..and so you can associate with them...and so memories are attached to them..the problem with most new songs is that the lyrics are totally lousy...though you enjoy listening to them for the beat..and rhythm...
you can have memories attached with them too but for sure you wont feel like listening to those ones 10-15 yrs down the line...
if not aashiq banaya aapne...but tu jahan from salaam namaste...i wouldnt mind listening to 5-10 yrs later...

virdi said...

Hey I finally did your dinner tag... sorry for being a little... errrr I mean 3 months late... ;-)

V..

div said...

Yeh yaadein kisi dil-o-jaanam ke
Chale jaane ke baad aati hain
Yaadein , yaadein, yaadein.... yeah..songs r alway fresh..and memories related to it r also fresh... nice post thanu:)

btw i hav tagged u for something..hope u 'll like it..:)

Bhole said...

Most of the songs these days suck....there are very few exceptions.

True....Some songs do bring back memories....

Sayesha said...

Sigh... so true... I forget the new songs within months... but I remember the lyrics of real oldies like 'Tum pukaar lo' from Khamoshi... ah that one just makes me choke with emotion... :(

Thanu said...

$ROS
Sachi.

$Vijay Ramamurthi
All of us were awake... just cherishing memories.

$educatedunemployed
I made u popular???
I saw the tag, will do it soon.

$divya
It doesn't have to be joy div, lot of emotions are associated with these songs.

Parth Anand
Nice to see u here after a while. 15 years down the road, will we have memories when we listen to them?

$virdi
Better late than never..
U don't have to invite me just b/c I invited u..

$div
I saw the tag.. will do it soon..

$Bhole
No matter how many times we listen to these old songs, the memory keeps coming.

$Sayesha
All songs of khamoshi are splendid and for some reason they remind me of my sister. I have no clue why.

Unknown said...

Thau,Old songs have the magic of melody,meaningful lyrics and emotions which maybe "sandeshe aate hai" of recent times could evoke years later too! "chitti aayi hai" is a favourite and so is "Chingari Koi Badke".

silverine said...

You have been tagged !!!

Eclectic Blogger said...

//I think the latter is true. //

Probably is..

virdi said...

:-) seriously... I remember the song, from Jungle Book dubbed in Hindi...

jungle jungle bat chali hai pata chal hai...
chadi pehen ke phool khila hai phool khila hai...


Nostalgia!!!

V..

Dewaker Basnet said...

the latter would be more appropriate..It would be great emotional drainage for us if we try to relate to songs of today..this is with reference to the number of albums cut per year as well as the number of movie songs released/year..:)