"Memories, Pressed Between the Pages of My Mind..."

As I sit in Starbucks, the song playing in the background on this particular day penetrates the dim recesses of my mind, breaking my concentration as I’m tapping the keys on my netbook.  My thoughts become fascinated and focused on “I could have danced, all night, I could have danced all night, and still have begged for more…,” and the lyrics rush in to transport me back to special times in my life. 

I first discovered the Frederick Loewe/ Alan Jay Lerner song as a student when I sang in the chorus for my high school’s musical production of “My Fair Lady.”   Shortly after, I again found the song in a collection of sheet music while riffling through scores at the music store.   I purchased the book and proceeded to teach myself to play “I Could Have Danced All Night” on the piano, when I should have been practicing my weekly piano lesson assignment.  The song appealed to me. 

 I found myself singing that song whenever I sang around the house, belted out tunes in the car, and couldn’t refrain from sharing tunes at work.   The song was one of my favorites. 

I had taken dancing lessons as a child, and years later, I still enjoy dancing.  While dating after my first divorce, I spent every weekend dancing at Frisco Bay.  Music, dancing, and singing were like breathing to me, and became times filled with joy.  Eventually, as an active community theatre member, I was cast as Mrs. Pearce, the housekeeper, in “My Fair Lady,” and again, that particular song entered my life.  It seemed a part of me. 

It’s amazing how we associate so many songs with certain events in our lives.  “How Much Is That Doggy in the Window” brings back childhood memories of my grandmother and aunt as they sang that to me.  The first .45 record I owned  in junior high was “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,  soon followed by “Lightning Strikes,” “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am,” and “Last Kiss,” along with .33 rpm albums from Paul Revere and the Raiders, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, and The Monkees.  “See you in September” reminds me of a certain guy I met while roller skating.  We skated all the couples skates together – he skating backwards, spinning, and me just staying upright and skating forward.  “Love is Blue,” the theme song from “Exodus,” and “Solfeggio” often filled the house during high school years as I played the piano.  A decade or so  later,  I sang “In the Good Old Summertime” and “Puff the Magic Dragon” to my children at bedtime, while “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” “Sentimental Journey,” “Moon over Miami,” and “One Kiss” bring back memories of my mother playing 40’s songs on the piano as I was growing up.  “Hang on Sloopy” will always remind me of going to football games and attending OSU.

Certain songs can even make us grimace whenever we hear them.  Please, just don’t choose “Silent Night” when I’m around at Christmas – I’ve never liked that song.  Maybe I don’t like it’s because everyone else waxes poetic and almost swoons over it, when it’s really a rather ordinary, almost boring, song.  I much prefer “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “O Holy Night,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” or a host of others.

So today, I’m smiling as I reminisce in Starbucks as the music enfolds me in its arms.  An old friend, “I Could Have Danced All Night” is dancing around in my thoughts.  “I’ll never know what made it so exciting…”  

Wonderful songs color our lives.  They stir our memories.   Certain songs do, indeed, speak to each one of us in an individual way like "I Could Have Danced All Night" does to me.  Bring on some Chopin, some good pop and country music, a little jazz, some show tunes, and a lot of oldies for me.  “Lullabye, and good night, With roses bedight…”