iPod, Take Me Back

My father, almost exclusively, listens to oldies. Music from the 50's and 60's, then, dominated the soundtrack of my childhood: anything from Tommy James and the Shondells to Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys to The Band, Diana Ross and the Supremes to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Chuck Berry to The Kingston Trio. Often, as a song played in the background, my father would recall the year the record was released: "This song came out in '67, the summer I drove a beer truck for Budweiser..." He knew them all, and it impressed the hell out of me. But now, as I grow older, and my youth slides further and further away, I find that I possess the same recall. I can remember not only the years, but the seasons, and sometimes the particular store where I purchased a particular album/cassettee/cd: my first album purchase was Songs from the Big Chair by Tears for Fears; my first cassette was Michael Jackson's Thriller; first cd: Green by REM. I can remember the place where I first heard a song in my car/room/friend's living room (Blind Melon's "No Rain" in Pat's living room in downtown Hallowell, summer of 1992). ****** Finally finally finally, I tranferred my vast cd collection to a big, fat 160GB iPod--and now my past is just a few clicks away. Because I not only recall when and where I was, but WHO I was, and who I was with, and what it all felt like. I recall the warmth or the chill of the day or season, the lightness or the darkness. I remember my freshman year at college, sitting on the floor of a friend's dormroom, processing the crush I had on her, as she played "Feel Us Shaking" by The Samples. They say that our sense of smell is most closely linked with memory, and I know the truth of that, but as I click through my iPod, rediscovering cd's and tracks that had been long lost in shelves and boxes, I am rediscovering my past.