The thing about music that always amazes me is the ability it has to change a person’s mood so quickly to how it can bring people together- just by bonding over song. It is probably one of the most powerful forces, in an entertainment sense.

A piece of music can send you back to a certain time, sometimes a time that you wish you could forget. Or sometimes, it just takes you to that place where nothing and no one can touch you. A certain song can make you feel so unbelievably invincible, that you can take on anything.

If I hear White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane I am immediately taken back to being a baby in my mum’s arms being rocked to sleep. Me and sleep have always had a bad relationship. Bad because most of the time, I find it impossible to sleep. When I hear White Rabbit I don’t hear Grace Slick’s haunting voice, I hear my mum mimicking creepy voices to get me to sleep. Now, for most that wouldn’t send them to sleep- with me, it did. Go figure. Ever the oddball I suppose.

Most probably use this song to get stoned to, as someone who’s never gone near drugs- White Rabbit is associated with my childhood. A precious memory that nobody can ever take from me.

However there are songs and artists that I can associate with shit times. Times that I wish never happened, but they did. They had to happen in order to make me who I am now. Some don’t like who I am now, but I do- and that’s what counts. If I listen to certain songs by Ladyhawke I am instantly think of a person who used to make me happy a few years ago, there was a time where I just couldn’t listen to certain songs by her. Now I can, because they are just memories and it is just a song.

Sometimes you hear a song that you and a friend or whatever, change the words to, and make it your own. You change the words to provide a comical take on it, it becomes your song.

I’ve heard couples go on about “this is our song!” and usually, it’s the wankiest song ever. They pick the stereotypical songs. If it was me, I’d probably pick something by Zola Jesus or The Jesus And Mary Chain. A darker take on it, I don’t know why- it’s just more intense and means more. Maybe I’d choose Billie Holiday by Warpaint. Actually no, I don’t think I could. Warpaint are my lifeline, and if it was to go tits up- the song would be ruined.

See, you have to be extremely careful with choosing what song you associate with someone you are close to. There will come a time where you cannot stand that person anymore, I think it’s called marriage? If you pick a song that you love to associate with them- what happens when it goes wrong? You dislike a person AND a song. It’s not worth it. Or is it?

The flipside is, when you hear that certain song you think of the person you love/like straight away. Every single part of you just lights up, you feel alive and superhuman. You have to take the good with the bad. Sometimes a song can sum up how you feel better than you can. Personally, I’m a bit shit with telling someone how I feel about anything or anyone. I can easily write things like this, that I have no issue with. I can pour out my heart and soul into an article and leave myself vulnerable or whatever- but make me tell someone how I feel about them? No thanks, I’ll just tell you to listen to a certain song- much easier. I’d say less effort on my part, but that’s not the case. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find that one song that just says it all? Bloody difficult!

I’ve always said I will never ever associate anything by Morrissey or Florence & The Machine with anyone, in a romantic sense. When I hear Everyday Is Like Sunday by Moz, I think of being at home straight away or I’m in York with my mum watching him sing it- good memories, of course. If I hear Between Two Lungs by Florence, I’m at a Florence gig with my best friend singing as if our lives depend on it. These memories don’t hurt. They just make me want them all the time.

Music can trigger off anything in your brain and cause your heart to instantly jolt, that’s how powerful it is.

There’s one song that no matter what will always make me stop everything and probably cry. The Smiths- Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want is my life, always has been, always will be. I’ve cried to this song and I’ve loathed life and myself to this song. There’s something about Morrissey’s voice that just breaks you in this song, as does Marr’s guitar. It just breaks you. I Know It’s Over comes close to this to. When I saw it live, I’m pretty sure I cried like a baby. When you hear the songs that saved your life live, it does that to you.

There’s a difference between associating a song with a person and a situation. When a song is associated with a person, you can carry bad vibes towards the person and song. When it’s towards a situation, it is easier to let it go. You cannot help a situation but you can be entirely cautious of who you get close to.

When I hear The Model by Kraftwerk, I remember being a baby in the living room dancing to this. The same applies to Groove Is In The Heart by Dee-Lite.

When I hear anything by Aaliyah I have a ridiculous amount of mixed feelings that I just cannot put into words, I just can’t.

Certain songs remind me of train trips and road trips. When I hear anything by The Long Blondes, Gossip or The Horrors’ first album- I’m back at my first year of university. The Long Blondes first album was played to death by me during my first year of university.

We create so many memories in our lifetime, some are hard to remember and some re hard to let go of- that’s why music is such a fascinating and overwhelming force.

Whenever I hear Now That We’ve Found Love by Heavy D & The Boys, I instantly remember being in a car with my family driving to Italy for the first time (that I can remember.) I loved that song SO much; pretty sure I used to rap along to it and dance like they did in the video. My mum and I used to sing it to each other in car, probably pissing everyone else off. I must have destroyed the tape of it during that trip. I was about 4 or 5; I was obsessed with that song so badly. If I hear that song now, I have to text my mum to tell her.

I’ve not really had a point with writing any of this, I never really do. I suppose I just had to write it down. However, my conclusion is this- I’d rather have a person break my heart than them ruin a song or band I love for me. I can handle having my heart broken, just don’t ruin a song I love- that I cannot deal with.