Trippin' Down Memory Lane

I have been on a serious streak of...inspiredness (shut up, it's a word) the past few weeks. I'm not sure where it's coming from but I've been writing like a man possessed, both on here and off, and I've been playing my guitar a lot at random times (which is about the only thing that makes my daughter happy now that she's officially entered the dreaded terrible twos phase). Not only have I been on a roll in my writing but I've been really into listening to oldies music on my ipod and it's taken back to when I was a kid. My mom always listened to the same 60's/70's radio station in the car when we were kids. I remember going places with my friends and their parents let them change the station to our then-new and hip (though now sadly considered oldies by some) 90's music and I was so jealous because my mom never let us touch that dial. But when I was about 8-years-old, I realized that I actually loved a lot of the music her oldies station had exposed me to (though I didn't admit it then).
My mom is a very creative person and my father was a musician so it was almost a given that my sister and I were going to have a love of all things creative. Before I realized how much I loved the music that was forced upon me, I would rebel by making up my own words, usually something funny. I wish I'd taken the time to write them down because I can't remember any of them now. But I remember being so struck by the actual words of the songs I was hearing. Even now, maybe because of my sudden inspiredness (that's right, I'm gonna make it a household term, you watch), I'm just connecting the songs I'm hearing all over again. I get into phases with my music where I'll listen to the same song or playlist for days or weeks, which annoys my friends like you wouldn't believe. I think this habit stems from when my sister and I got this little grey stereo for our birthdays one year and we had to share it. Keep in mind, this was back when cassette tapes were still the coolest thing on earth so if you wanted to hear a song again, you had to rewind, then stop to see where you were and then, most likely, rewind again until you got to the beginning. It wasn't the instant gratification of hitting the back button on your ipod and hearing a song you loved again. We would play the same tape for a month because music was also not as accessible back then. We took that little boombox everywhere.
Music is such a universal thing in that everyone loves some form of it. I've always been a sucker for lyrics. The beat can be ridiculously good but it rarely is the reason I'm drawn to a song. I have to connect to it in some other way. We'd be here for days if I listed my favorite songs but there are two in particular that have gotten to me lately. One came up today on my playlist of my favorite songs that I hadn't heard in awhile. 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me' by Dusty Springfield was my grandma's favorite song. (The popular opinion in the family is that it reminded her of grandpa who was killed when he was in his early thirties. Random odd/creepy fact - I'm often told that I look like my grandparents son, not their grandson. And I look almost identical to my grandpa). Obviously I had no clue what it was about when I was a kid but I was still very drawn to it for some reason. Now I know the reason I love it is because it is exactly what love should be.

'You don't have to say you love me, just be close at hand
You don't have to stay forever, I will understand
Believe me, believe me, I can't help but love you
But believe me, I'll never tie you down'

The other song that I've had on repeat is 'Something' by The Beatles. It pretty much spells out how it's gotta be when you fall for someone and go into a relationship. You don't know if it's forever, but you hope so and you go in with the best of intentions. When you break it down, it's basically saying, 'You want me to tell you we'll be together forever and I can't tell you that. But hey, if you hang around for awhile we'll find out together.' Not as romantic as the concept of 'forever' which I don't believe in anymore (I used to be a total sucker for it). But it's more realistic I think. I can't tell you what I don't know and I don't know if this is gonna last for the long haul, but I love you and I think we should give it a shot.

'You're asking me will my love grow
I don't know, I don't know
You stick around now it may show
I don't know, I don't know'