Song Memory: Sunshine On My Shoulders

I think I am going to blog occasionally about something I'll call song memory. I know much has been written about sense memory and even scent memory. That would be the concepts of how our own senses and emotional responses are linked to the circumstances of certain memories. For example, the smells of certain things, trigger in us the remembrance of a certain person, place or time. Sometimes songs do that for me. Music profoundly affects me, and I know that to be true for many folks.



I associate Sunshine on My Shoulders by John Denver with a distinct day from my childhood. Every time I hear it, my first response is that I recall a little fragment of an actual of a day in my life. I am about 7 or 8 and with my oldest dearest friend, J. We are in rural Pennsylvania, walking down a narrow, slightly overgrown woodsy path that runs alongside a small lake. Sunlight is glistening on the water and on the leaves of the trees and shrubs. The path leads to a small dam, and being brave and young we always have to walk across it. It takes a bit of fearlessness and balance. J. is so much more coordinated than I am, she leads even though she's younger than me. It was a great way to spend a summer.