by Sarah Tully
There are plenty of studies that say that our sense of smell is what we’re best at remembering, and that our memory of the sound of someone’s voice is one of the first things we forget, but I would like to call B.S. on that. For me, and a lot of other people I know, I can remember the way a song sounds for years. All of my other senses- sight, touch, smell- get tied to the memory of what that song sounds like.
I remember exactly where my dad’s old ‘Who’s Next’ CD skipped during Baba O’Riley, and in my mind I still hear it skip every time that song plays. I remember how my mom’s crappy car stereo system tried, and failed, to reproduce Sting’s tremendous vocals. Still to this day I can hear those songs and remember what it looked like out the car window, if it was summer or winter, if the car was ridiculously cold or stiflingly hot.
I remember the way my P.B. & Jam iced coffee tasted as I listened to Matthew Perryman Jones’ “Careless Man” on repeat for two hours. I remember the feeling of ridiculous humidity, which became inconsequential as I walked around campus listening to Blue Eyes by Jill Andrews. Where were you when you heard your favorite Olivia Management songs? What could you smell, what could you see? Share this article with your stories- we’d love to hear em!