What is a Scrapbook Song?

Have you ever been shopping in a random store and the song that is playing immediately transports you back to being 12 years old and you are reluctantly being woken up by your mother on a Saturday morning to help clean, the whole house smells like Fabuloso, and music is blaring over her kitchen stereo? Or maybe you are sitting in traffic on the way to your 9 to 5 with your music on shuffle and you come across a song that all of a sudden has you on the dance floor of a crowded college bar with the smell of people’s sweat, the bar special is $2 well drinks, you are wearing an Aztec patterned skirt from Forever 21, and you are looking for your friend to see if she will come to the bathroom with you to try and wash the X’s off the backs of your hands? Or maybe you are scrolling social media and you come across a video where the song playing in the background instantly puts you in the backseat of your father’s truck where it smells like Copenhagen wintergreen long cut tobacco and you are on your way home from your first weekend at “dad’s house” while you are looking out the window processing the fact that your parents actually have split up for good? Well I certainly have!

Since is it slowly getting into the fall season, which means the holiday season is right around the corner, I have started to become more consumed by nostalgia than usual. Because I have been so nostalgic lately, it also had me thinking about songs that give you a nostalgic feeling. However, I started to realize that occasionally we come across songs that may not be a favorite song of ours, or maybe not even one we particularly like, but regardless, it instantly transports us back to a very specific moment in our life. Because I am someone who is heavily influenced by music, I have noticed instances like this happening all the time throughout my life. It is that moment where just hearing the song fills your mind with such vivid details of a random memory to the point where it practically feels like you are there. I have never been able to find an exact word for those moments or songs so I have always just referred to them “scrapbook songs” due to the fact that these songs act as a collection of memories in the way a scrapbook does.

I am sure there are scientific studies surrounding the connection between music and memory, specifically in Alzheimer’s patients, but I don’t want to get too over my head and start speaking on scientific topics I don’t fully understand. However, I would rather just discuss the idea and phenomenon behind these musical instances. 

When it comes to the music we consume daily, we don’t usually think about how they basically become the soundtrack to our daily lives until after an event or special time period has happened. I have occasionally challenged myself to listen to a new album or song during a fun time I want to remember in order to pretty much trick my mind into remembering that memory later down the line. Or sometimes we go through a moment in time where we consume a certain band or artist during a specific phase to the point where that time period is significantly connected to that artist. But the even stranger instances, and the ones I am particularly interested in, are when something happens out of nowhere and we all of a sudden have a song connected to a core memory. For example, when I was younger, my cousins and I went on a road trip with my grandparents to visit various places around Texas. During this road trip, we came across an explosion due to a collision between a semi truck and another vehicle. As we saw this wreck go down and watched the crazy explosion, Jo Dee Messina’s “Lesson in Leavin’” was playing over the radio. Ever since that moment, every time I hear that song I immediately replay that explosion over in my head. Situations like that just blow my mind because I realize that we can end up with a song that connects us to such vivid memories without any intentions behind it.

Since I have started to be more aware of these “scrapbook songs,” I have also been interested in learning about other people’s experiences with them. I love when people share with me a moment that a song brings them back to and it always makes me smile to think of it as taking a little peek into that person’s scrapbook. It also makes me wonder about the songs that my parents and grandparents listened to and what detailed memories pop up in their heads when they have this reaction. All of these instances just show the complex connection that music has to our life and memories.

Because of this experience of “scrapbook songs” and how the most random songs sometimes spark such memories, I am eager to see what songs I listen to currently will randomly be significant later down the line. It also makes me have hope for my memory recollection in my older age so that when I want to take a trip down memory lane; I can always count on my music to take me there. We are constantly building the sound track to our lives and unknowingly filing up our musical scrapbook of memories and to me that is such a cool concept!

So just know, when I hear the song “She’s Acting Single” by Gary Stewart, I am instantly transported back to my middle school bedroom dreading the Saturday of cleaning that lies ahead of me. And when I hear “Turn Down For What” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon, I am all of a sudden in a greasy college bar making my way through a sweaty, drunken crowd. And that when “Where is the Love?” by The Black Eyed Peas comes on, I can fully feel the moment I 100% understood my parents were actually divorced. These songs are not songs I necessarily listen to often, but boy do they hold a weight in memories.

That being said, I would love to hear what random songs bring up vivid memories for you. Please share with me your experience with these instances and whether or not you’ve taken the time to really reflect on those songs and memories because of it. This whole concept gets me so excited and just reinforces why I am so obsessed with music.

Thanks for reading!