Music (The Other TARDIS)

9/9/2021

Greetings, and welcome to Pacebook! I want to begin our blogging experience by continuing to get to know one another a little bit better. As you have likely noticed, I am drawing on Dr. Who quite a bit for its connection to literature (the ability of books to transport you through time and space, like a TARDIS, for you Whovians). However, the same is probably equally true for all art, especially music. As a musician, I am naturally drawn to the parallels between music and literature, which was actually the focal part of my Master's Thesis (reading the "jazz novel" as a model for more egalitarian communication in a post-national world). Music also seems to have special ties to memory, though, in a way that transcends language, and a simple few bars from a song can trigger very specific memories. So, I want you to think of a song that serves as a TARDIS for you and transports you to another time and place.

One song (of many) that functions as a TARDIS for me is "One Tin Soldier" by The Original Castle (and more famously performed by Coven). More accurately, however, it was performed by my dad, and I didn't actually hear the original until years later. It is a protest song that talks about greed and how it corrupts people and is the root cause behind many (if not all) wars. More than that, though, the song tells a story which is delivered quite skillfully and with ample amounts of development and irony. Actually, the song has many parallels to "The Pardoner's Tale" from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, which we will be looking at later in the year, but of course I didn't know that at the time; I simply enjoyed the melody, the moral, and the complexities of the song. It is the first "favorite song" I remember having, and the first song I recall attempting to write was a very close imitation of "One Tin Soldier." Hearing it now takes me back to sitting at my father's feet in our old house when I was four or five years old, although I don't think the studio version is as good (the flute part is a little cheesy, really). While it's not a song I listen to very often, it does evoke many memories when I do, and it has certainly had a profound influence on me, both as a person and as a lover of stories. If you've never heard it, here is the original by The Original Castle:

Now, I want to hear from you. What is a song that takes you back to another time and place? Explain in detail, and include a link to YouTube, so we can all listen to it as well, please. I look forward to hearing your stories!

57 Comments

Erik

9/9/2021 10:06:36 am

One song that takes me back to my childhood would be Viva La Vida by Coldplay. When I was younger my father would play Coldplay songs and Viva La Vida is the song that is the most iconic to me. This song especially reminds me of trips to Utah to visit family and camping trips. Of all the songs that bring me memories or take me to a different place this is the song that does that for me because it is connected to so many of my memories of my childhood.

Micah Tolman

9/9/2021 04:03:56 pm

That is a great song. Your family has good taste.

Boaz Oswald

9/12/2021 05:07:37 pm

Coldplay songs really take me back a couple of years as well. That is almost all I would listen to in 4th and 5th grade.

Erik

9/12/2021 05:37:06 pm

The link is https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE

Carson Mildon

9/12/2021 07:58:20 pm

I loved this song as a kid. Especially during long car rides like you said.

Jonah

9/9/2021 01:34:29 pm

One song that is a ‘TARDIS’ for me is “Pepsi Man” by Bobby Mackey. I started working at Pepsi 3 summers ago. The boss had just sold their house and moved into the warehouse and the boss’s kid who was like 10 years old at the time brought down the Alexa and started playing this song, which I had never heard before. I’m not big into country, but I think of this song every time I go to work or see literally anything pepsi, whether a label on a shirt or a drink in a store.

Micah Tolman

9/9/2021 04:06:49 pm

That is a good example. It’s cool that he played that song and you still remember it. It’s a fitting song

Jonah

9/9/2021 07:23:22 pm

And this is the link https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J5x8YRsP_Ko

Erik

9/12/2021 05:44:48 pm

The story of how you discovered this song is great and it’s crazy to think you’ve been at Pepsi for 3 summers.

Dakota James

9/12/2021 05:46:14 pm

That's a pretty unique way to remember a song, I like it. I find it cool that hearing that song even just once, captured all the elements around you and stored it, so when you hear that song it releases those memories. Does it ever get annoying always thinking about Pepsi? haha

Jonah

9/12/2021 07:35:13 pm

Yes, yes it does

Micah Tolman

9/9/2021 04:00:55 pm

When I hear most of the songs from the Newsies soundtrack, it reminds me of my first experience participating in a theatrical production a few years ago; I helped on the backstage crew as a sophomore. I especially liked Carrying The Banner. When I hear this song nowadays, it brings flashbacks of the energy backstage before and during a performance. I absolutely fell in love with that environment and atmosphere. It reminds me of the joy I get being around the performers and the effort they put into their acting. It is something which still amazes me to this day. It was also at this time when I realized the potential music and theater has to create change. The power of the message and how it is carried is able to influence the way we view certain customs and ideas. Theater is more than just entertainment; it is a way to impact the future. https://youtu.be/GBgzLkauIrs.

Janessa Black

9/12/2021 04:59:08 pm

Newsies has such an amazing soundtrack. Everything is so upbeat and makes me want to get up and fight in a revolution. Every musical we've done brings back so much nostalgia when I hear the music! It really is an experience like no other.

Kendra Hobbs

9/11/2021 12:58:40 pm

My very favorite song that I hum often is called, “Savior, Redeemer of My Soul.” It is the most beautiful song I have ever heard and every time I listen to it or sing it, it touches me a little more than it did before. This song makes me think of my Grandpa and the special connection we had. It was sung at his funeral and when I hear it, I feel closer to him. It gets me through some rough times and it is about the only song that I could have in my head and never get sick of.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=svH-s0EwN3w

Robyn Chaffin

9/12/2021 07:11:43 pm

It’s really amazing how certain songs or tunes can make you feel stronger or more confident.

Courtney Vennell

9/12/2021 08:49:18 pm

I definitely know what you mean when you say you can feel closer to him! There’s a song that played at my grandmas funeral and every time I hear it, it just makes me feel like she is still with me!

Adyson Sawyer

9/12/2021 09:15:51 pm

I love the aspect of songs that can get you through hard times. Every time I play certain song i am put in a good mood.

Adyson Sawyer

9/12/2021 12:01:22 pm

Out of many songs that are a “TARDIS” for me, my favorite would have to be “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perry. This song was played at my dads wedding back in 2016. This particular song transports me back to a young age every time. Whenever I heard it, I am instantly a little kid again and and full of happiness and joy. No matter how many times I hear it or where I’m at, it has the same effect on me time and time again. https://youtu.be/rtOvBOTyX00

Boaz Oswald

9/12/2021 05:13:05 pm

It is interesting how emotions come back as well as memories. That is one of the reasons I enjoy music so much, because it can bring back past innocence and happiness and joy.

Dakota James

9/12/2021 05:43:16 pm

I think it is amazing how big of an effect music can have on us. Hearing a specific song can bring back memories we didn't even know we had. I think we all have special connections with certain songs that we can relate too and that is why they bring up memories.

Ele

9/12/2021 08:01:06 pm

It is awesome the way that we can hear a song that we haven’t heard in many years and our brain instantly connects it to a certain thing. That is awesome and I love that they played this song at his wedding!

Hailey

9/12/2021 09:26:27 pm

I remember wanting to try out for Salmon Idol with this song haha. This brings forth lots of childhood memories for me as well.

Courtney Vennell

9/12/2021 01:27:20 pm

One song from my childhood that is "TARDIS" for me would have to be "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by The Tokens. My family and I used to live in Africa when I was younger and we used to go on many safaris on the weekends and any time we had the chance. We would play this song while we were looking for animals in the wild because it helped us get in the spirit and as little kids we believed the animals heard it and wanted to come and listen to it. Every time I hear this song now it just takes me back to all the times my siblings and I would be singing this song in the plains of Africa.

Courtney Vennell

9/12/2021 01:28:59 pm

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQlByoPdG6c

Janessa

9/12/2021 05:05:40 pm

If I was an animal chilling in the plains of Africa and I started hear the "A-wimoweh" chanting in the distance, I don't know if I would be terrified out of my mind, or come find you and start doing that high soprano part. That song is a classic, never gets old.

Jonah

9/12/2021 05:12:32 pm

You used to live in Africa? That’s sick!

Robyn Chaffin

9/12/2021 07:09:47 pm

That is such a cool story! You must have felt like a Disney princess as a kid!

Janessa Black

9/12/2021 04:56:30 pm

My 'TARDIS' song is "Hotel California" by the Eagles. My mom would play this in the house all the time when I was younger, and sing the lyrics with a funny voice and weird faces. Every time I hear the song I have this same mental image of what the scenes look like: the highway, the hotel, the woman, the strange voices floating down the hallways. The lyrics and the tone of the song work so well together to make some amazing imagery and tell a story. It has some creepy and unsettling undertones behind the catchy melody, and if you pay attention to the lyrics there's a darker hidden meaning, which gives it the allure. "Hotel California" plays on the radio quite often and I go crazy and jam out to it whenever I can share it with other people. Earlier this week I went to see the new Marvel movie "Shang Chi" with some friends, and it plays the song- needless to say I freaked out when I heard it and my friends had to tell me to calm down and be quiet in the theater.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMLC3iiELhY

Kendra Hobbs

9/12/2021 05:18:07 pm

I think that it’s awesome how excited a person can get get when they hear “their” song. Wish I was at the theater for that!

Nathan

9/12/2021 06:40:23 pm

Hotel California is an awesome song. It is so well written and the melody sticks with you long after the song is over.

Carson Mildon

9/12/2021 07:57:16 pm

I remember my dad playing this song all the time when we would work out in the shop. I think it was his version of a "Tardis song" also.

Boaz Oswald

9/12/2021 05:01:42 pm

I have gone through many different distinct phases in terms of music so I have many songs that bring me back to certain times, mindsets, and emotions. One of these songs is "Across the Universe" by the Beatles. I always get transported to a specific moment on a bus ride to a cross country meet when I was listening to many Beatles songs for the first time and finding songs that I liked. This song came on and it really resonated with the journey that I felt I was on. I had just moved here to Salmon and at that time I was just contently floating on time, and "Across the Universe" really gave me that vibe. Now whenever I listen to it I am back in that space just floating.
Link: https://youtu.be/90M60PzmxEE

Jonah

9/12/2021 05:13:42 pm

I can confirm that Boaz does indeed have a wide variety of music but the story behind this song is dope.

Erik

9/12/2021 05:39:07 pm

The Beatles are cool and what that song is to you is sweet.

Nathan

9/12/2021 06:37:59 pm

Yes you definitely do like the Beatles. It’s cool how real the memories music can entice.

Dakota James

9/12/2021 05:38:02 pm

One of my 'TARDIS' songs is "19 Somethin" by Mark Wills. This song brings me back in time, where the world was a seemingly more simple and happy place. I never got to live the life of the 70's, 80's, or 90's, but hearing stories from my dad makes me wish I did. This song also reminds me a lot of the way I am growing up in Salmon because our town is evidently less modernized than most. I also like this song a lot since it is all about growing up and having fun throughout our youth, which is what I am doing now. The first time I heard this song was when my mom played it in our house while cleaning, and the catchy beat made me start paying attention to the words. Now it is one of my favorite songs.

Dakota James

9/12/2021 05:39:42 pm

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm--KJk-kgw

Robyn Chaffin

9/12/2021 05:45:45 pm

Songs and music influence our lives in ways that we hardly understand. For me I listen to music on a daily basis. From listening to the ACDC to George Strait to listening to film scores I am constantly listening to something. However, one song that happens to take me back to a simpler time and a time of happiness is the song “Interstate” by the Randy Rogers Band. Whenever my dad and I would travel places he would play this song. He would turn up the volume and we would both sing along at the top of our lungs. Having six siblings has always made one-on-one time with my parents hard to get, but somehow my Dad and I managed to get alone time. I’ve always been known as a Daddy’s girl and not having my Dad living in the same state has been really difficult. Playing this song reminds me of those seven hour long trips my Dad and I would take alone. I miss just sitting with him in the pick-up talking about life and listening to music.

https://youtu.be/n24EaRr70Pc

Kendra Hobbs

9/12/2021 06:26:10 pm

It’s so amazing how music can transport anyone back to a better time. It often makes me think of times when life was simpler.

Courtney Vennell

9/12/2021 08:44:12 pm

That is so awesome! I am from a big family too and so anytime I got alone time with my parents I always felt so special and important!

Nathan Deschaine

9/12/2021 06:33:57 pm

A song that brings back memories for me is, Near Wild Heaven by REM. It was on a CD that was in the little car my family used to drive around Maine. I can remember my dad teaching me how to drive stick shift in the little white car and having this song playing in the background. Now when ever I hear it, it brings me back to the sweet memories I got to share with my dad and family while in Maine. I can still smell the cool moist sea air when I hear this song.

Nathan Deschaine

9/12/2021 06:35:16 pm

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dcP7TxLnd9M

Adyson Sawyer

9/12/2021 09:17:19 pm

I think it’s really cool that you remember the memories that song gave you all those years ago.

Ele

9/12/2021 07:54:51 pm

A song that is my ‘TARDIS’ that brings back memories is the song, “Experience” by Ludovico Einaudi. Music is an art that is made in ones mind. It allows us to relate to our thoughts and emotions by taking the sounds we hear to connect to our feelings. Though this song does not have words, it can even be the motion in the rhythm and timing that connects to the way one feels. This song brings back the feelings that I felt at certain times in my life when I had created memories that I will never forget. Some of these included traveling, going to the lantern festival with my friends to utah, hiking in the mountains and looking at the view, and many more. These opportunities that I got to experience left me feeling overwhelmed, but in a way that I wish those moments would have never ended. Maybe even that each of those things left me with a reminder or a lesson learned.

Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2MHsDNV9lgY

Lizzie

9/12/2021 09:36:25 pm

I love how we can remember all of these special memories through songs. We are lucky that we get to have a connection to all of these special things.

Carson Mildon

9/12/2021 07:55:03 pm

I remember many songs from my childhood that bring me back to simpler times. Most of these songs are under the alternative genre because that is what my older sisters listened to a lot and so in turn that is what i grew up with. One song I really remember is Stressed Out by 21 Pilots. This song brings me right back to my middle school days when I first remember hearing it. I was traveling with friends up to Lost Trail ski resort. This song brings me heavy nostalgia from those ski trips when I was in the car so eager to go ski.

Carson

9/12/2021 07:55:53 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXRviuL6vMY

Ele

9/12/2021 07:58:22 pm

That song was the vibe back then lol, and yes that is cool the way that we can remember those songs and how that relate to a specific memory.

Hailey

9/12/2021 09:23:46 pm

I, too, remember listening to this song in middle school, singing about how stressed I was. Haha…if only we knew what high school would be like.

Hailey

9/12/2021 09:22:48 pm

This past weekend, our senior class did a “senior sunrise” event, in which we stayed up all night long in order to watch the sun rise, representing the beginning of our senior year. To pass time, we stood around a campfire and listened to music. One Direction’s song “Story of My Life” came on during the early hours of the morning, and it transported all of us back to our childhood; the childhood we all shared as friends, classmates, teammates, and more. The story of our lives together is comprised of laughter, failures, successes, friendships, relationships, and so much more. Listening to this song together as a class is one of my absolute favorite memories with my classmates.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W-TE_Ys4iwM

Lizzie

9/12/2021 09:33:31 pm

That night was wonderful and I know we will all remember it for a long time. Our childhoods will always be intertwined and it is awesome that we can remember these special memories.

Beth

9/12/2021 11:29:19 pm

I definitely think that One Direction is the way to go for future senior sunrises!

Lizzie

9/12/2021 09:29:27 pm

A song that is a “TARDIS” for me is Don’t Treat Me Bad by Firehouse. This song is what my mom used to sing all of the time when I was younger. Every time I hear it, it instantly reminds me of when I was younger and used to dance around the house singing with my mom. Something about this song just takes me to simpler times and makes me remember the past. This song allows me to be a kid again for a few minutes.

Lizzie

9/12/2021 09:31:46 pm

https://youtu.be/bU-1g2CB9HU

Beth

9/12/2021 11:28:32 pm

Some of my favorite songs to listen to are the ones my mom used to play around the house, even if they aren’t exactly my style. I definitely understand what you are saying about it reminding you of simpler times.

Beth Davidson

9/12/2021 11:26:24 pm

One song that transports me to a different time is “Sold” by John Micheal Montgomery. This is a song that my aunts and I listen to and dance to all the time. Every family reunion, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays, you will find everyone swing dancing around the kitchen screaming this song. They also will endlessly mock those who mess up. I always love spending time around my family and feel recharged after every visit. This song makes me feel at home with my family.

Beth Davidson

9/12/2021 11:26:49 pm

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_PvsvA6D9NI

Music (The Other TARDIS)

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