Jennifer. J. Chow

What’s That Song Again?

The other day, I went down memory lane, thinking about a song from my childhood. It’s one that I hummed as a kid whenever I felt discouraged, like when I transferred elementary schools. Recesses felt so long and awkward back then…

Photo by Dave Sherrill on Unsplash

For the life of me, I couldn’t remember the exact title. I mean, I hadn’t heard it in decades. Besides, it was an old Chinese song on this cassette tape…which I destroyed. Okay, well, I was long-term borrowing the tape from my parents, and who knew leaving it in a hot car would be a bad idea? (I should’ve known.) The tape melted into an awkward lump, and I had to toss it out.

The worst part was I couldn’t replace the tape because I didn’t know the Chinese name of the collection. I also didn’t know the name of the song, only that it was about flying and seagulls. Over the years, whenever I’d feel nostalgic, I would think about the song and half-heartedly search for titles about birds. Nothing.

I finally caved in and asked my dad the other week if he remembered the song. He didn’t and sent me a list of other Cantopop songs. Then my daughter heard my dilemma and whipped out her phone. There’s a name-that-tune feature on the Google app. I’d tried something like that before with Siri, and no joy. But I figured I could try once more.

Right away, I got several hits, but only one was a Chinese song. I clicked on the link–and there it was. Apparently, the song’s title has nothing to do with seagulls, although the mention of flying is in the lyrics. It’s actually “Freedom in my Hands” by Candace Yu.

Photo by Georgii Eletskikh on Unsplash

What’s a significant song from your past? (Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you to hum-to-search it.)

23 thoughts on “What’s That Song Again?”

  1. I don’t have a song like yours, per se, but I love it when an old song comes on the radio and it brings back a memory. And don’t love it so much when that becomes an ear worm! Fun post.

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    1. Judy, I’m having a TON of earworms these days! I’m embarking on a project to listen to every vinyl album in my collection, most obtained in high school through a couple years after college. Talk about memory lane! Man … records I haven’t heard in decades put me right back in my childhood bedroom, singing along while I roll my hair in hot curlers before school. lol!

      Fun post, Jen!

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      2. Hot rollers? I’m impressed! I tried a curling iron for my bangs a few times to try to get them out of my face. It did not end well. (I still have the burn marks, I think.)

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    2. Love when the memories flood in! I have a friend who does music therapy, and it’s fascinating for me to hear about her work in terms of the connection between music and memories.

      Agree about the ear worm. But it’s much worse when it’s someone else’s ear worm, and they’re humming and singing it around me! 😉

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  3. That’s great that you found it. I used the same method to find a British song that we loved when we lived in England. And darn it, I can’t remember what it was now. This will drive me crazy until I look it up again.

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  4. I’m so happy that you found the song again! And hugs on recess moments. There are so many ways in which they could be long and awkward…

    I don’t have one song per se, but I also love when an old familiar song plays and I have the sensation of being transported back in time. Magical.

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  5. I’m so pleased that you found your song, Jen! “Rock n Roll Heaven” by the Righteous Brothers was the first 45 I owned. I bought it at age 8 or 9. I remember watching 10,000 Maniacs performing “These are Days,” a favorite of mine, at the 1992 MTV inaugural ball. I can still remember when and where I was when I first heard “Fall on Me” by R.E.M. I was on Michigan Street, driving to class, in 1986. Lots of great memories!

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  6. Congrats on finding it!

    No need to pause for me. The first one that springs to mind is “Would You” by a now obscure Christian artist, Evie. For me and my parents, that song has been associated with a redwood state park that we love to camp out because when my parents first got that record and recorded it to a tape, we then listened to it on the way to camp in that park. Not sure why that particular song is the “Hendy Woods Song” and not the entire album but for all three of us, the instant it comes on, we are thinking about happy times camping there.

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    1. That’s a beautiful memory, Mark. Glad you had such great times traveling with your parents and going camping.

      We also try to create an encouraging space in our car journeys, whether it’s through playing music or singing whenever we do a road trip as a family.

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  7. i’m constantly looking up songs by typing in a little bit of a lyric and then and then adding the word lyric to define that’s what I’m looking for. As to a song that means a lot to me, I’d have to go with KC & the Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight.” Anyone who knows me will tell you I consider it the greatest song ever written. Whenever I hear those opening notes, I get the exact same feeling of excitement.

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  8. I so love that you figured out what song it is, Jen–yippee!

    My sister and I sang along with a radio ad jingle back in 1972 when we lived in England for the year, and although we’ve both tried over and over to find it online, we’ve never been successful. (“Looks like a waffle, tastes like a dream, [something, something] chocolate, filled with [yummy?] cream.”)

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  9. So sorry I’m late to the party, Jen! I read your wonderful post yesterday, went to the app, then plunged straight into the research rabbit hole on “Cantopop.” And then I somehow hallucinated that I’d commented. Yikes. My can’t-stop song is A-Punk from Vampire Weekend. (Hey hey hey!). The only memory associated with it is the opening credits of the movie Step Brothers.

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  10. There are two songs from my childhood in Japan – Sakura and Yuuyake Koyake. In the summer after 2nd grade I took a class on Japanese dance, and we learned Sakura. Plus, I was born in the middle of sakura blossom season, and it’s one of my favorite flowers. Yuuyake Koyake, I learned to sing in Japanese while we were living in Japan (I was 6 years old when we moved there), and my Japanese grandmother taught me. I sang it as a lullaby to both of my sons when they were babies, and to my grandsons when they were babies. Even now, while typing this, I’m hearing the words and melody in my head.

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