STUCK IN A MOMENT

ANNA HUMPHREY

PEPPER MAGAZINE “ O A c e a n s A w a y ” R I Z O N A

S t u c k i n

“ A f r i c a n S k y J u l u B l u e ” k a

p u S o “ 1 9 8 5 ” B o w l i n g f o r a moment

A collection of songs that always make me think of a very specific moment in time. Feel free to draw your own music memory on the right side of the page.

“ A c r o s T h e s B e t h e a t l e s U n i v e r s e ”

“ C a s t l e o n t h e H i l l ” E d S h e e r a n

Draw your own memory

Why does Music Evoke Memory?

Everyone has those songs. The songs that the second they start playing we feel like we’re transported back to a moment in time. Maybe it was a song your parents always sang to you, or that song that played on the radio when you first met your significant other. For me, one song that always, no matter what, brings me back to a specific moment in time is “Across the Universe” by the Beatles. The day before one of my friends left to go home to Germany we spent the whole day hunting down these weird bird statues in our city and taking pictures of each one. That day we played the entire Beatles Let it Be album on repeat from the speakers of my car. We must have played that song about 100 times that day and now its forever ingrained in my mind.

But why does this happen? Well, in short, the part of our brain thats connected to our autobiographical memory is extremely close to the part of our brain in charge of music and emotions. When our brain is listening to music and also trying to record memory, the signals get confused and often become tethered together. This bond can be so strong sometimes that scientists found that listening to certain songs can actually help someone suffering from amnesia recover lost memories.