More than a feeling

I love music. I don't remember if I always loved it, but for at least the past sixteen years, I've LOVED it. I remember hating music when I was forced to take piano lessons and being very happy when I was allowed to quit (a decision I obviously regret now). But I have always enjoyed a nice song and I really enjoy singing.

And I have come to realise just how many of my memories are intrinsically tied in to songs. I hear a certain song, and the period of time in which that song took centre stage comes rushing back to mind. A lot of the time it makes me very happy and very rarely it makes me sad.

Girlfriend by Alicia Keys


When I hear this song, it reminds me of the time I lived in France. It was very early 2002 and I had gone to Annecy in France for the second part of my year abroad. I was living in Centre Residence d'Evires (Evires for short) and working at IPAC (IPAC Annecy, bonjour.) It was a fairly idyllic time. It took me a while to socialise, but eventually I became really good friends with the Irish colony living in my building. They were the only acceptable people to hang out with. All the French people who lived there all appeared to be societal rejects, but that's for another day.

Alicia Keys had just released her first album but I was still immune to her apparently sizeable charms, even though Fallin' had already become the song of choice for talent show auditionees across the world. I myself preferred India.Arie and was loving 'Brown Skin' in a big way. So Paul, one of the Irish, lent me his bootleg version of 'Songs in A minor'. Girlfriend was the first 'proper' song on the album since the first track was an Intro.

I would play this CD a lot, especially on a Saturday morning as I was getting ready to go into town to knock about. So the first piano chords of this song always reminds me of coming in from the shower and picking out my clothes. I'd then sing along while I was getting dressed and feel pretty happy. I liked the way the piano sounded so jazzy, then it suddenly switched to a thumping drum machine and her voice comes in and it sounds slightly out of time "Maybe silly, for me to feel this way about you and her." I loved the lyrics and the backing vocal, and I especially loved chiming in on the chorus "I think I'm jealous of your girlfriend, although she's just a girl that is your friend." I'm sure the girl in the room next to me was dead annoyed but I couldn't help it. The lyrics were simple yet they really made sense and even though I was single and had never before experienced the feelings she was talking about, I was often the girl-friend the girlfriends were jealous about.

I'd then fast forward to Butterflies.


This song has such a 'sing-a-long' quality to it, I simply couldn't resist. Sigh! I loved the simplicity of the production. Just her and the piano. Then the backing track comes in near the end. It's so melodic and so pretty. I hear it, and I'm taken back to night time in Evires. I'd play that song in the evening, mostly because I found it very soothing and I enjoyed hearing it as I lay in bed reading or just staring into space wishing that Cute French Guy (who did indeed give me butterflies) would stop being so nice to me and ravage me behind the ugly building that housed IPAC.

D'Angelo- Playa Playa


This song is from Voodoo, the only D'Angelo album I own but one of my absolute favourites. I also borrowed this from Irish Paul and simply fell in love with it. This is the first song on the album and I love how it starts with the ambient noise. Then the instruments kick in in a sort of disjointed fashion and it all sounds so old school. I loves it! I'd also play this on Saturday mornings, usually just after I woke up and before I went for a shower. I'd do what I imagined to be a super cool dance, looking as 'edgy' and hip as I could. And I just loved singing along to it. I like the way the vocal sounds a bit out of time with the music and the way he pronounces the words, not drawing out the syllables or anything. It just sounded cool. I particularly remember one morning when it was super-cloudy and I was wondering whether I should even bother going into town. I was standing by the window of my room looking out, and singing the song in a somewhat distracted way, when the chorus finally comes and I just about burst into song. Good times.


R. Kelly- Spendin' Money



We used to have parties in the basement of our halls. In my halls there were the Irish, a couple English, an American, two Belgian, an Uruguyan and loads of French. In the other halls up the road (Pre St Jean), there were Irish, other Belgians and other people whose existence I'm not that bothered about at this point. We mostly only socialised with the Irish. So anyway, we'd often organise these parties in our basement and Paul used to DJ. I'd heard this song somewhere before and never knew who sang it. But I knew that I liked it. And then one night, Paul played it and it made me so happy. I was dancing with my friend Des (Irish Justin Timberlake type) and we were just having so much fun and it was one of the best times of my life. I especially love the part near the end when he goes "I need you baby, to share this good life. I need you baby, it's true. All that I do, I do for you." I can't really explain why I love it so much, but of course I borrowed that bad boy from Paul and played that A LOT! My room wasn't massive and once you factored in the bed and the desk it didn't really leave a lot of room for dancing. But I think I made it work. When I hear this song now, it brings a smile to my face and makes me think of a simpler time, when life was super easy and we really didn't have any hassles.


Ah, if only!