Smelling Musical Memories

What is the most commonly shared trait among smells and music? Is it that both can be good, bad or indifferent? That they can be interpreted differently by each individual person? I believe it is their ability to strongly and randomly recall memories.

I do not know about anybody else but for me, a lot of things are forgotten in the past until something external triggers the memory. Music and smells tend to associate themselves with memories more than anything else in my life. I can often hear a song and instantly be brought back to another time. Almost, every family trip I took as a kid I can associate with a particular song. For instance, every time I hear the song "Youth of the Nation" by P.O.D I am taken back to a scene in my head of being in my mom's Pontiac Montana in Branson, Missouri. Anytime I hear Willie Nelson's "Whiskey River" my mind splits between two places one a restaurant in Gulf Shores, Alabama where my Dad convinced me to try karaoke for the first time and the second place is to Little Rock, Arkansas during the annual Riverfest one year probably around 2009, in which Willie Nelson performed. The list of songs and their associated memories could go on for a long while. The memories associated with music often seem to feel more real and tend to seem as if they literally transport my mind to that place and time. I can often remember more of the memory than had I just tried to simply recall the memory. Because, of this effect I often songs that I had no interest in when I first heard them, I now enjoy as they remind me of a pleasant memory. Such, just about anything that is performed by Luke Bryan. I do not particularly like his music but because his music was playing a lot when Brandy and I were first dating, his songs often remind me of that time in our lives which makes the songs enjoyable.

While smells used to trigger memories similarly to music for me, this is sadly no longer the case as my sense of smell has gradually gotten worse over the last five years or so, and is nearly non-existent. these days. (My loss of smell is not Corona related) However, smells still play a large role in my memory. Often, when I think about certain memories the smell that was present at the time presents itself! I can smell the memory even though my nose no longer smells very well. It is really interesting as it not only enhances the memory, but it is nice to smell again even for a brief moment of reflection. One, such smell is my Dad's old Ford truck he had when I was a kid. I think about that truck I can smell the inside of it. Once, I start the memory smell I get flooded with other memories involving that truck and my Dad. Such, as I remember changing out the shifter knob with him once. So, maybe the next time you are thinking about the past maybe try and recall the smells and maybe you will remember the event more so.

So, while usually I would not think about music and smells being used for similar purposes, I find it interesting that when recalling the past, they both can be extremely useful! So, the next time you listen to a song or smell something familiar take a moment and think about what it might remind you about. Also, next time you are reflecting on the past maybe stop and take a mental note if an old smell comes to mind while recalling the memory.