A melody becomes a memory

Music can shape our thoughts and beliefs, but more importantly in the words of Eric Church “Funny how a melody, sounds like a memory”. I can pinpoint moments in my life according to an artist or a song. I think we all can.

In fact, I remember when I was working as a police officer often, I would come across children that genuinely didn’t know how old they were. But because I knew that their parents would often pick names based on who was a popular recording artist at the time, I could usually figure it out.

So let’s step through some of the relevant moments in my life.

Piano Man; Billy Joel

This timeless classic was released the year I was born, 1973. The first time I remember hearing it, I would have been maybe six years old. I heard the song on the radio and the melody and lyrics just made an impression. I turned to my mother and said, “Who sings that song?”

Speaking with a level of authority, she replied, “Neil Diamond”. I had no reason to doubt my mother’s musical knowledge, so for the next few years, I searched the record shops to find a Neil Diamond album with Piano Man on it. This will likely surprise you, but I did not find any Neil Diamond album with that song listed.

Eventually one day I heard the song on the radio when I was in the car with Mom. The announcer at the end said, “And that’s the Billy Joel classic Piano Man”. I pointed out that I’d been hunting Neil Diamond albums in vain all these years because she didn’t know her music as well as I believed.

Over the following years, I ended up buying every Billy Joel album ever released, and have seen him perform live twice.

Okie from Muskogee; Merle Haggard

Neither of my parents liked the Beatles, and only Mom liked Elvis. But they both loved country music. Saturday afternoons the record player would be blasting their favorites. Whenever I hear them now it takes me back to being about 10 years old running around the yard.

Merle Haggard was born a day before Mom. She always liked his music and Okie was one of those favourites.

Three Rivers Hotel; Slim Dusty

My Dad loved Australian country music the most. He always had a deep respect for Australian poetry and music. One of his favorites was Slim Dusty. There were a few albums that Dad would select, but out of all the songs Three Rivers Hotel was the one that I always considered my favorite. Purely and simply from the opening line “From Townsville to Greenvale, they’re building a line”. Townsville was my hometown. Even today it’s not a thriving metropolis, with a population of about 170,000. So, it was special to me that someone sang a song where they mentioned it.

Fuck tha Police; N.W.A.

Yes, you read that correctly. A white, former cop from Australia listed this song as one that shaped them. By my mid-teens, I was listening to a lot of different genres of music. When this song first came out as an angry teen who never contemplated being a cop (I was certain I’d be an electronics engineer), this song was a great way to rebel. But the more I listened to the song, the race aspects stuck out and years later when I did become a police officer I reminded myself of this massive chasm in society.

The Rose; Bette Midler

Yep, I’ve gone from an African American anti-police anthem to this. But again, there’s a reason. I was in my last year of high school and a friend of mine died. At her funeral, one of our classmates sang this song. This song will now and forever be linked to the death of a friend.

5, 6, 7, 8; Step One

Please do not judge me. It was the 90s and I was trying to impress a barmaid at a local nightclub. I was a young, keen, freshly sworn-in police officer and she liked boppy nightclub music. She liked this song most of all, and she enjoyed dancing to this song wearing my police shirt. Now, we will move on.

The Mona Lisa; Brad Paisley

In my wedding speech, I referenced several songs. But this song was what I referenced to talk about my wife, and then it was the first song we danced to.

I feel, like the frame

That gets to hold the Mona Lisa

And I don't care

If that's all I'll ever be

I don’t need to say any more about that.

Annabelle; Gillian Welch

This song will round out the list. I first heard it when played on an episode of Justified, the TV series adapted from Elmore Leonard’s books. It was a sad episode, that I rewatched a couple of times. I then saw Gillian Welch live, an amazing artist if you’ve never discovered her before.

When it came time to select a name for my daughter, my wife and I could not find any that we would agree on. So many of them would remind me of people I had arrested or didn’t like. Finally, when we compared our lists, there it was. Annabelle. I liked the song; I liked the name.

I could probably list about 300-400 other songs that have been relevant throughout my life. But let’s not give away too much about me.