When the music's over
BY GREER MCDONALDDon't you hate it when you break up with someone and among all the heartache and guff that goes on during that tumultuous time, you also have to break up with That Song?
Everyone has Those Songs.
They're the ones that within a few beats take you right back to where you were with that formerly special someone.
Plenty of couples have "their song" - the one they agree most reminds them of each other, or the one they chose to walk down the aisle or have their first dance to. But this isn't always the case.
Often just the most popular song of the time - love it or hate it - will be enough to kickstart the memory train.
To be fair, having "our song" was definitely something that was more important in high school - but I assume it still happens in adulthood too?
The following are a list of songs that have been ruined (some were already terrible songs anyway), or in some cases just had extra meaning added to them, thanks to some former flame or schoolyard crush:
U2 - All I want is you: It was my first serious relationship (well, as serious as it can be in your teens) and as we lay on the couch I remember him singing quietly in my ear, "You say... you want... diamonds in a ring of gold..." etc. I was a tender 15 but utterly convinced we were going to get married. Yeah, nah.
New Radicals - You get what you give: This has to be one of the most annoying songs of all time, and it's one of those cases where it wasn't "our" song but it was just so popular at the time we dated that every shop, TV and radio station seemed to be playing it. "Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson, you're all fakes run to your mansions, Come around - we'll kick your ass in!". Truly horrible, but it summed up a pretty horrible year for me.
Hunters and Collectors - Throw your arms around me: I still really love this song but when someone you like sings it to you - and does a bloody good job of it too - it's hard to break that link. I can but try.
Dire Straits - Romeo and Juliet: See above.
Bernard Fanning - Thrill is gone: Ugh, such horrible memories of my worst relationship.
Dave Dobbyn - Oughta be in love: This song makes the list because of the arguments an ex and I had about whether the lyrics were romantic or were actually saying the person "oughta be in love" when actually they weren't - but probably should be. Make sense?
Incubus - Wish you were here: Incubus has the ability to take me back to the late '90s in a flash, to a time when I tried to date someone who wasn't into sport. Yeah, that didn't work out.
Anything by Matchbox 20 or Bryan Adams: Blech!
Powderfinger - My Happiness: Does not bring me happiness.
Shihad - Pacifier: I am kinda gutted that this song is tainted. Thank god the band saw some sense and dropped the song title as their name.
Thirsty Merc - Someday, someday: Gives me shivers; not in a good way but instead in a this-makes-me-physically-sick kind of way.
Velvet Revolver - Fall to pieces: I have terrible memories of being at this concert in Auckland and holding the phone up, calling this bloke, as this song was playing. He didn't answer and instead got a garbled voicemail that he didn't recognise as this song at all. I never learn.
What are the songs that remind you of certain relationships? Any tips on how to cleanse these songs from my memories?
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'Hard Sun' by Eddie Vedder - oh, when will The Rock stop playing this daily? Usually when I hear it I'm in the office, at my desk - but in my head, when it's playing I can't be anywhere but in bed with my ex.
On the other hand, thank goodness we broke up before Backspacer - otherwise that would have been well and truly tainted.
Velvet Revolver. so mine as well..... FOr also some other strange reason. 'I like big butts'
I've just been reminded of another one I need to add: Opshop's No Ordinary Thing.
*cringe*
Great topic, I've had a few songs ruined but have found that over time you get them back, like after a couple of years. If you find that they've been ruined forever, then maybe you haven't let it go yet.
You should listen to the New Radicals song a bit closer, the lyrics you're dissing were done on purpose to see if the media would get up in arms about meaningless lyrics or the real meanings in the song. It succeeded in making the media look like idiots....
I have just started seeing this fantastic bird! And the whole Them Crooked Vultures album does that for me. Brings a smile to my face :)
Also meeting Josh Homme on friday night after the show just cemented that for us.
Of course if it goes to custard, it will break my heart... really love that album :)
@janey #6
Well aware of that, hence why everybody knows those lines verbatim.
Isn't music a strange thing? Years ago as I parted with someone very dear to me I was followed around by "Don't Speak". Months went by and it still tugged gently at my heart strings when it started playing when I was out and about, and now has mixed feelings for me as by the end of the song my lips had locked with another amazing person.
One of my favorite songs at the moment is Basshunter's "All I Ever Wanted". The first time I had even heard of it was when a close friend texted me randomly as I was driving across the Nevada desert, saying she just found the song on her ipod and it reminded her of me. Should I be reading something in to that?
Coldplay 'Clocks' for a guy I had a major thing for in the UK but never managed to get it together with before I left - this is what I listened to when thinking about him when I got home. Seems a bit silly now.
Evermore 'My Immortal' for my major ex, the closest thing to 'our song' we had, always think of him when I hear it now.
Op Shop 'One Day' and 'Chasing Pavements' by someone I can't remember the name of - the two songs playing a lot when I broke up with the major ex, so are also eternally linked to him now.
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The song I hate most is Hanging by a Moment, it reminds me of a guy I really liked when I was younger, things didnt end well, and frankly it is an awful, awful song!
The song that will remind me of the relationship I am in now is Black by Pearl Jam, both of us love it and listen to it all the time together so I think it will always remind me of him, hopefully things dont end too badly so I can continue enjoying it.
I refuse to tell any guy I know what my all time favourite song is so they can never ruin it, I have been with my boyfriend three years and he still does not know what it is!