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True Confessions: Lovely Associations
02/14/08 | by Mr. Moderator
All right brave, hardened Townspeople, I am asking you to open your heart today, on Valentine's Day. I know with the rich experience with matters of love that diehard rock nerds like us typically have it might be hard to dig back into your memory to share over the question I'm about to ask, but as the Cub Scouts motto says, Do your best. Are you ready?
What's the first love song you recall associating with an actual object of your desire?
This song may or may not be associated with your first crush, but it's the song you first remember associating with any crush. Beyond listing the song, you may share as much as you feel comfortable sharing. But let's respect that ancient flame and leave surnames out of it.
The first one I can remember is Gallery's "Nice to Be With You". As I recall, the song had been out for 2 or 3 years, for those of you trying to guess Mr. Moderator's age, on an afternoon spent hanging with the daughter of one of my Mom's friends and realizing what the song - and my time increased interest in hanging with young Kim - was all about. We were at my grandparents' farm, and I was showing her the horses that my grandfather bred and raced. The song just came into my head. For all the things I forget on a daily basis, I'm surprised I remember this particular moment. Love songs from my early childhood that made a big impression on me in a merely conceptual way, such as The Beatles "She Loves You", took on added meaning.
19 comments
Comment from: mockcarr [Member] 
I associate You're Gonna Lose That Girl by the Beatles with a girl I had a crush on in college at the time I bought Help! Naturally, she had a jock boyfriend, and I would have needed a crane attached to my head to make eye contact with her. He did not lose the girl by any of my doing.
If only I had listened to Rambling Gambling Man before leaving my dorm room, I could have perhaps looked a girl, hunh, right in the eye.
If only I had listened to Rambling Gambling Man before leaving my dorm room, I could have perhaps looked a girl, hunh, right in the eye.
02/14/08 @ 13:05
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
Thank you, Mockcarr, for your memory and candidness on this most romantic of contrived holidays! Come on, Townspeople, you must be holding out on us!
02/14/08 @ 13:47
Train in Vain was hitting me hard with a girl at the time. I had a new job, and man, it didn't pay. I needed new clothes and when she was around I needed something to say. But I remember that one fitting my little world pretty well for a few weeks. Remember Three Dog Night? Sham Ba La reminded me of a girl, too. Man, those were not good days.
02/14/08 @ 13:57
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
2K, I'd have had to break up with the girl if she caused me to think about any Three Dog Night song!
Let your love flow, Townspeople!
Let your love flow, Townspeople!
02/14/08 @ 14:17
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Hm. I enjoyed a lengthy slow dance with buck-toothed Diane Bickford to the strains of "Wild Horses" in seventh grade, and was pleasantly surprised by the effect the ritualized groping experience had on me.
02/14/08 @ 15:20
Comment from: shawnkilroy [Member]
'A Night Like This' by The Cure from "The Head On The Door". I fell in love with a depressed arty 15 year old(i was 14). then i got grounded for shitty grades. I was sure she would kill herself. she never did. anyway we were in love and this particular song seemed dramatic enough to be our theme.
"i'm coming to find you if it takes me all night..."
"i'm coming to find you if it takes me all night..."
02/14/08 @ 17:00
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
I've gotta say, I thought the Townsmen around here were more sensitive and open than this thread nows leads me to conclude. Mad props to sensitive, sharing Townspeople like Shawnkilroy and Mockcarr! I'll continue waiting on posting some other more emotionally challenging questions until more of you are comfortable with this territory.
02/15/08 @ 16:20
Comment from: dr john [Member]
I think you're a bit mistaken in your expectations. Songs tend to trigger a whole bunch of emotional responses, and I think its hard to relegate/confine them to one person or experience.
For example, in college, I once made out with a woman at a party while "Love is the Drug" is playing. But that's not what immediately comes to mind when I think or hear the song, and to say otherwise would be rather disingenuous.
To put it slightly differently, I think it's a rather shallow approach to understanding art when people (and I've seen many students do this) are only concerned with how it relates or speaks to them. I can't speak for anyone else, but the solipsistic implications veiled in your question are what made me hesitate to answer it.
For example, in college, I once made out with a woman at a party while "Love is the Drug" is playing. But that's not what immediately comes to mind when I think or hear the song, and to say otherwise would be rather disingenuous.
To put it slightly differently, I think it's a rather shallow approach to understanding art when people (and I've seen many students do this) are only concerned with how it relates or speaks to them. I can't speak for anyone else, but the solipsistic implications veiled in your question are what made me hesitate to answer it.
02/15/08 @ 16:50
Comment from: Rick Massimo [Member]
Well, my first kiss was to Donna Summer's "Last Dance." In my book, that song sounds like a first kiss feels - pure sugar rush.
I'm surprised I can't think of any prior examples, because that came embarrassingly late in life. But I really can't (which is one reason why it's taken me so long to respond).
I'm surprised I can't think of any prior examples, because that came embarrassingly late in life. But I really can't (which is one reason why it's taken me so long to respond).
02/15/08 @ 17:38
Comment from: Rick Massimo [Member]
Oh yeh - I'm with Dr. John generally. I remember the above anecdote simply because it was such a toe-curling memory that I remember absolutely everything about it, including not only what she was wearing but what I was. But in the same way I wouldn't remember my sartorial choices in other romantic situations, I don't remember the music playing. The only other specific song-memory I have is that Louis Armstrong's version of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" was playing the first time I was in a woman's apartment and it was made explicit that I wasn't going home that night. (Incongruous or fitting? I dunno.) But that's even later than my "Last Dance" anecdote.
02/15/08 @ 17:45
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
Dr. John wrote:
Certainly, but the example I gave from my personal experience - and perhaps figured unrealistically that others might relate to - was from the age of 11 or 12, when girls were first being cured of cooties or whatever. And the song was the not-so-deep' "Nice to Be With You"!
[Dr. John taps pipe, strokes his whiskers, and takes a sip of brandy before continuing...]
Dude...
Songs tend to trigger a whole bunch of emotional responses, and I think its hard to relegate/confine them to one person or experience.
Certainly, but the example I gave from my personal experience - and perhaps figured unrealistically that others might relate to - was from the age of 11 or 12, when girls were first being cured of cooties or whatever. And the song was the not-so-deep' "Nice to Be With You"!
[Dr. John taps pipe, strokes his whiskers, and takes a sip of brandy before continuing...]
To put it slightly differently, I think it's a rather shallow approach to understanding art when people (and I've seen many students do this) are only concerned with how it relates or speaks to them.
Dude...
02/15/08 @ 22:11
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
Rick Massimo wrote:
Hey, nothing to be ashamed of! In fact, your sharing will help unlock toe-curling experiences for other Townspeople, I'm sure. You know, Rick, I somehow recalled that one association with the Gallery song and young Kim on a spring afternoon, but it would be some time before I would have a first make-out song to remember myself. But you know what? I was able to rise above that specific association in the case of "Stairway to Heaven", which would come to have so many layers of meaning to me and my entire generation.
I'm surprised I can't think of any prior examples, because that came embarrassingly late in life. But I really can't (which is one reason why it's taken me so long to respond).
Hey, nothing to be ashamed of! In fact, your sharing will help unlock toe-curling experiences for other Townspeople, I'm sure. You know, Rick, I somehow recalled that one association with the Gallery song and young Kim on a spring afternoon, but it would be some time before I would have a first make-out song to remember myself. But you know what? I was able to rise above that specific association in the case of "Stairway to Heaven", which would come to have so many layers of meaning to me and my entire generation.
02/15/08 @ 22:22
Comment from: mwall [Member]
I've been seriously busy at work so haven't been able to participate this week.
The first song I associate with an actual love experience is two songs; "If I can't have you/ I don't want nobody baby" (don't know the title) and "It's Too Late "--is the first song Carole King too? Probably. I was six. I quoted them to seem cool. The girl (her name was April) dodged me and hid behind the trees in a pink dress, flipped up her skirt and showed me some tempting white panty. But sadly, it went no further. I couldn't get a girl to kiss me until I was eight.
The first song I associate with an actual love experience is two songs; "If I can't have you/ I don't want nobody baby" (don't know the title) and "It's Too Late "--is the first song Carole King too? Probably. I was six. I quoted them to seem cool. The girl (her name was April) dodged me and hid behind the trees in a pink dress, flipped up her skirt and showed me some tempting white panty. But sadly, it went no further. I couldn't get a girl to kiss me until I was eight.
02/16/08 @ 00:18
Comment from: the great 48 [Member]
I know for a fact that I told my first-kiss story in Mom's Basement -- it's one of my most famous stories, actually -- but here's one that's more song-related: after, like, damn near my entire junior year's worth of pursuit on my part, I finally was in the clinch with My High School Dream Girl, we'd gotten as far as both of us being undressed on her bed, the packet of three had been breached and one was in the midst of being deployed...
...and Magic 99 FM starts playing Robert Palmer's "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On." Which cracks MHSDG the hell up, to the point that it was nearly a week later that the flag was planted.
This is the same girl who, some months later, interrupted a half-dressed snogfest to side two of Rhino's THE BEST OF LOVE on the daybed in my study to stare in incredulity at the stereo when "Laughing Stock" started, asking "What in the name of hell is THAT?" Still can't hear that song without thinking of that moment.
...and Magic 99 FM starts playing Robert Palmer's "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On." Which cracks MHSDG the hell up, to the point that it was nearly a week later that the flag was planted.
This is the same girl who, some months later, interrupted a half-dressed snogfest to side two of Rhino's THE BEST OF LOVE on the daybed in my study to stare in incredulity at the stereo when "Laughing Stock" started, asking "What in the name of hell is THAT?" Still can't hear that song without thinking of that moment.
02/16/08 @ 01:09
Comment from: mwall [Member]
Okay, my memory is confused. What is the second Carole King song I'm thinking of? "If I Can't Have You" is a 70s tune, isn't it? It's 1968 or 69 I'm talking about here.
02/16/08 @ 12:33
mwall, It's Too Late is from Carole King's Tapestry album. It's a 70's album, for sure. Mrs. Sargeant played it in the dance class I had to take in eighth grade. She played that song and Neil Sedaka's Laughter in the Rain constantly. I still can't dance and I just don't care.
If I Can't Have You was Yvonne Elliman, I think. Or the Bee Gees. That was real big in the 70's, too.
I think Carole King's Tapestry album was a staple for all my babysitters to bring over back then. I would bet that even I own a copy of it and it's around here somewhere.
If I Can't Have You was Yvonne Elliman, I think. Or the Bee Gees. That was real big in the 70's, too.
I think Carole King's Tapestry album was a staple for all my babysitters to bring over back then. I would bet that even I own a copy of it and it's around here somewhere.
02/16/08 @ 13:22
Comment from: mwall [Member]
Ah, what a bummer that I can't even remember my own childhood correctly. So all the facts show that I would have been eight, not six, when I tried to sing that Carole King song to a girl. Her name was April though, that I'm sure of.
02/16/08 @ 13:47
Comment from: Rick Massimo [Member]
And "If I Can't Have You" was from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (written by the Bee Gees, sung by Yvonne Elliman) in 1977. Either you're way off on that or the authorities might want to have a word with you.
02/16/08 @ 22:29
Comment from: mwall [Member]
No, it was a second Carole King song or something close to it. "It's Too Late" and some other.
Even if you don't do anything wrong, the authorities are always having words with you. So what's the dif?
Even if you don't do anything wrong, the authorities are always having words with you. So what's the dif?
02/17/08 @ 17:58
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