A song is a key for locked memory boxes. A song can transport you back through time, giving you a chance to relive moments and ideas that occurred back when you first heard that song. A song is not just a song; it is also a story.
Bob Dylan – “Ballad in Plain D”
Songs remind me of walking, something I spend a lot of time doing. There are many songs that connect me to many cities.
“River Man“, one of my favorite Nick Drake songs, reminds me of stepping through Etobicoke when I first moved to Toronto. When I hear it, I picture nameless factories, busy overpasses, and an empty sandwich shop.
My first morning in New York City, 6am, I walked from Port Authority to Central Park. I saw Broadway for the first time, no one around (the city definitely does sleep), the music in my ears was Bob Dylan, LCD Soundsystem, Mark Berube. “New York I love you but you’re bringing me down / Let me die in my footsteps, before I go down under the ground.”
A bus trip from Toronto to St. Catherines, sun going down, a newly acquired copy of Sigur Rós’ Ágætis byrjun. Tall impersonal buildings staring down at me, empty faces flashing by.
The crazy streets of Chennai, India; the gypsy folk of Olenka and the Autumn Lovers. London ON, London UK. Orillia. Amsterdam….
But one song?
I’m walking from my place on Roncesvalles to a record party East of the Dufferin Mall. I’m almost at Dufferin Grove Park when Bob Dylan’s “Ballad in Plain D” comes on my headphones. A track I’d heard before, but never really listened to. I was mere steps from the party door, but I couldn’t leave that song. I’d never heard such painful honesty. Not a single character leaves that story unscathed including (especially) Dylan himself. At songs end, I still needed a few minutes pause. I looked around Dufferin Grove Park, and with some embarrassment, realized I hadn’t moved a step in 10 minutes or so. A living statue. I tucked my headphones in my pocket, picked up my copy of “Them Again” (which I had dropped somewhere between verses 7 and 9), and headed towards my friends place. A tune that can stop you in your tracks is something rare, indeed.
