Good Songs and Bad Memories
There are certain good songs that still bring back bad memories for me. No matter how hard I try, I relate them to a particular time and place that I wish I could forget. For instance the video below...
Ray Charles "Hit the Road Jack" 1961
features a wonderful song by one of the best artist of our age, but it means only one thing to me. Going to school. That memory is so vivid in my mind that it's downright scary. You can't fathom how much I hated school as a little kid. But without fail, I would get up in the morning, get dressed and walk into the kitchen for breakfast. The white rectangular AM radio was always sitting on the washing machine tuned in to the local station, blaring the same songs every morning. I would go to the end of the table to take my seat. We would have eggs, sausage and biscuits...every day. I don't ever remember eating cereal. I would eat the biscuit tops and my sister would eat the biscuit bottoms...only if I hadn't touched them. I would get fussed at for using too much Vermont Maid syrup when we had it. Quite often we had sugar syrup. I was always allowed to drink coffee and my sister would complain because I slurped it from a spoon as I ate the sugar off the bottom of the cup. Another thing she excelled at was whining about me having dirty fingernails. She threatened to puke daily over my dirty little fingers. I would beg my parents to let me stay home, but to no avail.
Here's another one that I wish I could enjoy. But again, same story. This was a "going to school" song. My dislike of it has absolutely nothing to do with Elvis, simply conditioning.
Elvis Presley "Return to Sender" 1962
Ray Charles "Hit the Road Jack" 1961
features a wonderful song by one of the best artist of our age, but it means only one thing to me. Going to school. That memory is so vivid in my mind that it's downright scary. You can't fathom how much I hated school as a little kid. But without fail, I would get up in the morning, get dressed and walk into the kitchen for breakfast. The white rectangular AM radio was always sitting on the washing machine tuned in to the local station, blaring the same songs every morning. I would go to the end of the table to take my seat. We would have eggs, sausage and biscuits...every day. I don't ever remember eating cereal. I would eat the biscuit tops and my sister would eat the biscuit bottoms...only if I hadn't touched them. I would get fussed at for using too much Vermont Maid syrup when we had it. Quite often we had sugar syrup. I was always allowed to drink coffee and my sister would complain because I slurped it from a spoon as I ate the sugar off the bottom of the cup. Another thing she excelled at was whining about me having dirty fingernails. She threatened to puke daily over my dirty little fingers. I would beg my parents to let me stay home, but to no avail.
Here's another one that I wish I could enjoy. But again, same story. This was a "going to school" song. My dislike of it has absolutely nothing to do with Elvis, simply conditioning.
Elvis Presley "Return to Sender" 1962
Posted by TBF at 9/17/2008 7:07 PM 
Categories: History for 500 dollars
Tags: Hit the Road Jack and Return to Sender
Categories: History for 500 dollars
Tags: Hit the Road Jack and Return to Sender
One song that I could relate to when I was younger was Soul Asylum's Runaway Train.
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That is a very touching song. Personally, I'm glad I grew up in a time when song lyrics were trite, goofy and meaningless. Today's society is much more harsh than our parents ever thought it would be. It's unfortunate for our younger generation because we were so ill-equipped to explain what the world is really like. It's a shame we couldn't have done better.
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