Factors in Liking Songs

If you've been reading this blog, you may have noticed that I review, on a weekly basis, my favorite songs of a specific year. And you also may have noticed that these songs tend to vary quite a bit as far as genre is concerned. So what makes a song memorable and appealing?

As I have lived through the years, contemporary popular music has traced a path parallel to my personal life. So, at any particular time, there were songs that were current then. As a result, I have come to associate certain tunes with certain periods of my life. And sometimes, it gets very specific with a tune evoking one vivid memory. For example, I remember, during my high school track practice in April 1973, someone had their radio on and the Stealer's Wheel hit Stuck In the Middle With You was playing. Now whenever I hear it, I go back to that time and "relive" it. Other times, I would just be running some cross-country practice on my own and I would begin to play a tune in my head. Now those tunes also automatically bring up my running experiences (Don't Pass Me By by The Beatles, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by Bette Midler, Loves Me Like a Rock by Paul Simon, and Changes by David Bowie). Since I've usually been permitted the use of a radio at my workplaces, I'll often instantly visualize an old work location upon hearing an old tune. The earliest example of this phenomenon of associating songs with personal events that I can remember was when I, as a seven-year old (in 1964), was playing out in my front yard by the driveway while someone had on the radio, which was playing a song titled White On White. When the oldies station plays Georgie Fame's Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, I'm suddenly in the same spot four years later in 1968, but it's evening and I'm out star-gazing. Hearing other songs will give me instant associations with people such as my friends and family, when those have reacted either positively or negatively to the songs in question. So hearing old songs can serve as a tremendous memory aid, tying my life's span together into a tapestry of sorts and keeping memories afloat that otherwise would have faded into oblivion.

But there are simply songs that stand out on their own merit and don't necessarily bring out memories. To this category belongs music that resonates with the various emotions and moods that I tend to go through on a regular basis. And sometimes, strange as it may sound, it takes a song full of misery to lift my spirits when I'm feeling down myself (songs like Novocaine For the Soul by the Eels and Led Zeppelin's Dazed and Confused and No Quarter).

Some songs impress me for the virtuosity of the singers and instrument players (Minnie Ripperton's Loving You and The White Stripes' Icky Thump). Others have interesting stories to tell (Suzanne Vega's Luka and Tracy Chapman's Fast Car). Sometimes all it takes for a song to take hold on me is for it to contain a couple of witty or significant lines of lyric (for example, just about anything by John Lennon). I'm also partial to songs of a long, "epic" nature that take their time developing to rewarding climaxes (songs like Close to the Edge by Yes and Stranglehold by Ted Nugent).

There is a special category of songs that I am fond of: songs of inspiration and determination. These can reinforce positive attitudes and habits, and I like to listen to these repeatedly (songs like Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down, Pearl Jam's I Am Mine, and Steve Winwood's Back in the High Life Again).

So you can see, there are many different factors determining whether or not I like a song that I hear. And sometimes, I'll like one for no discernible reason as well!