I’m not doing very well at keeping track, but I’m calling this day six; and I uploaded the day-six song a couple hours ago. But I’m not planning to do a seventh song. First of all, my summer vacation has now officially ended. My first teacher meeting is tomorrow, and after that I’ll be pretty much in full swing for the Fall ’13 school year. Second, this song is kick-ass. What more can I say. It’s doubtful I could do better in one day, so I’m retiring at the top of my game.
It’s funny how much I’ve been struggling to get anything recorded this time around–and then I knock one out of the park. Okay, now I’m just sounding conceited. You’ll have to listen to the song and decide for yourself. It’s called What Good are Memories, and as usual you can hear it at Rapidshare.com, username tommydean, password songwriter.
I confess I was feeling pressured and looked through my song notes for an idea for this one. What Good Are Memories was the working title to a song I’d tried to write a couple times over the last few years. Though I never got very far. I count it as a new song as all the lyrics are new, for the most part.
Actually, the original title was: Where do Memories Go? As in when they fade away. Do they continue to exist somewhere? Or are they simply gone? I think I was lamenting that fading away. But more than that I was literally wondering what they are. The event is over, so why does it still hold meaning for me? Is memory the best/only way to hold on to an event in the past. Does that event hold some place in the universe, besides in my memory.
This all must sound pretty vague. Try this. When I had a tooth drilled recently, I was put under, as in I slept through it. I know how much a tooth hurts (understatement) when drilled–without anesthesia. Well, where did that pain go to? I didn’t experience it, due to some magic on the part of the oral surgeon. Did someone else have to feel it? Is there a roomful of patients somewhere who take turns feeling my pain?
I know that pain is supposed to be a process, not a thing. Pain is an experience, and as such, it is mediated by our senses–in this case, the sense of feel, as communicated through neurons. In the case of anesthesia, that signal must be blocked. So the pain never happens.
Like a memory, which, if it is only a certain brain configuration–one that the brain will reproduce with less accuracy and vividness as time progresses–is but a shadow of the original experience.
What am I getting at with all this? I thought I remembered. (pun intended)
In any case, the meaning of the song morphed into something a little more tangible. The question came to be: What good are memories? The unspoken answer is: no damn good.