Song. Memory. Story.
A Song Story is a mini-history of a time, a place, an individual and a song. It's a personal experience, rising from memory every time we hear a certain song. We all have them. They can be happy, sad, or somewhere in between. But they are always welcome when they appear.
Listen in on the Song Stories below. The archive is growing all the time, so check back regularly for new additions. And send in your own. Check out the Submit Your Song Story page for more info on how.
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Rod Clarance has travelled to more countries than you can shake a stick at. His Song Story is pulled from his memories of his first time in Europe. Music sticks with us for years and a simple song can generate a whole flood of good memories (and some sad ones!) This is the good doctor's second Song Story and it's as good as his first!
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Jossie Chavira's Song Story is dark and disturbing. As an undocumented Trans, Jossie is daily reminded in the media, at work and in her social life, that she's “not one of us,” that she doesn't belong. When she first heard Before You Were Born, by Toad the Wet Sprocket, she was just learning English and her close friend had to translate the words. The song spoke to her feelings of angst and alienation and, in some way, seemed to explain those feelings. Jossie is a fighter. But even fighters have moments when everything seems to be stacked against them.
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Eddie Ramirez remembers a cruising in the newest car he'd ever owned, black, all power, windows down and Credence Clearwater's Born on the Bayou blasting out of his Bose speakers. Reveling in his youth and his complete and utter freedom under the hot Arizona sun. Hearing the song today, Eddie is swept back to those younger days and it puts a big smile on his face.
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90-year old Aggie Barkhouse celebrates her late-husband, Lloyd, and her life-long love of music in her Song Story, Maritime Medley. With the help of her neighbors, Beverley and Pete, she recounts the “old time” music and dance that brought joy to her life in small town Nova Scotia.
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Coincidence, Karma or Divine Comedy? It's hard to tell in Kelly Candaele's Song Story about the first time he left home and an amazing experience that resonates to this day. Kelly proves that your Song Story doesn't have to be about your favorite song – or even a song you like – to still be a wonderful and funny tale.
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Angus Bossenberry's Song Story takes us on a colorful and funny road trip as he hitchhikes up the Pacific Coast Highway in California. It's really a Song Story about a Story Song – not sure what that's called! Bob Dylan's powerful “Hurricane” provides the soundtrack for a trip Angus will never forget.
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“The sun was still high and hot, but we were cool in our rad wheels and long hair, bell bottom and love beads.” Teacher, life archivist and house builder, Doug Irvine's Song Story takes him back a “mere 47 summers” to the “sweet soul summer of 1968” and a classicly cool “Grazing in the Grass” by Hugh Masekela. *Doug Says: Dedicated to my brother David who celebrates his 80th birthday with friends and family in Smith's Cove.
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Kristopher Ohlendorf is a Media Studies grad student and ponderer of big questions. Like why is that bicycle horn honking in the Beach Boys “You Still Believe in Me?” It's a question he never asked when he first heard the song because he didn't like it. Ten years later, listening on a rowdy school bus, he was mesmerized by the melody and amazed by the song's intricacies.
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Grant Hawkins is a Masters student in Music and a lover of sounds. His Song Story is about love and winter and his song, “Myth” by Beach House, is a wonderful sonic expression of both. A winter night, the perfect snowfall and a new friend surrounded by an ethereal soundtrack. What's not to like?
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Grad Student, Conor McSweeny studies Popular Music and Culture and his Song Story fits nicely into his interests. The classic Cream song, “Sunshine of Your Love,” sets the tone for Conor's memory of his first performance in front of an audience at a Battle of the Bands in grade nine. Sweat pouring from his brow, red-faced and legs twitching, but Conor nails the lead!
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Law student and former go-go dancer, Armando Torres' Song Story recalls a time when he was a god above all, transmitting his energy from a box in the sky to the ocean of bodies on the dance floor below.
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My daughter, Anna, turns 20 this month. She's become a wonderful, beautiful, talented, stubborn, artsy, funny, a little crazy and very independent young woman. When she was a baby, she, like most babies, would have nights where she simply could not fall asleep. And if Anna couldn't sleep, no one could sleep. She's an actor now. Watch her on MTV's Finding Carter.
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Joe Donia's Song Story is a memory piece taking him from the music that filled his childhood to his son Natty's middle school performance of "Clocks" in a rarely heard xylophone trio. Whether it's nature or nurture, Joe proudly confirms, “That's my boy.”
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Filmmaker Kerry Candaele’s epiphany on California’s Pacific Coast Highway still resonates with him today. A dedicated Rock and Roller meets Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the ocean to the left of him and mountains to the right. You might say a chance encounter in a black Fiat led to his film, Following the Ninth. Listen to his Song Story. Then buy his film.
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Rick Peate's Song Story will touch a nerve with anyone who's ever had the kind of day where all you want to do when you get home is bash something. Could be a person, a wall or that face in the mirror. For Rick, it was his brother's 5-piece drum set. Need a classic drum song to make it all worthwhile? Rick recommends CCR's Born on the Bayou.
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Artist and medical technician Deb Mueller Peate take us to her youth and back in a Song Story that covers – wait for it – four decades of memory. From “those sticky nights on the dance floor” to lifting the spirits of a wounded Vietnam vet, Deb's story will resonate with anyone who came of age in the Summer of Love.
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“I'll always have this wonderful memory of my father who loved to dance with his daughter, and still does to this day.” Lyndsey Dorey's Song Story is a tender memory of her family's most difficult time and how, together, they found a way to brighten their world.
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Pat Zakaib's bitter-sweet memory of friendship lost and found spans decades as she shares a frustrating tale of her travels from Paris to Athens. Pat's song, the Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) classic, “Oh Very Young,” only enhances the poignancy of her Song Story.
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Colin Bartlett takes us to East Germany before the wall came down. He's on an overnight train trip through a country few outsiders could see. The Curse of the Traveler is the perfect soundtrack for his magical trip.
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At 15, Melanie Clarance's world was turned upside down. Everything seemed to be going in the wrong direction. Until she took things into her own hands. Life lessons at a Beach Boys concert!
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In his Song Story, Rod Clarance reminds everyone born in Montreal something we all intuitively know. You can leave Montreal, but Montreal will never leave you. Maybe your Song Story is about a place, someone you know or love, or some wonderful or weird experience you've had. I'd love to hear it. Oh, for those close listeners, Rod knows it's the "Front" not the "federation". He just forgot for a moment.
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It can be surprising meeting one of your musical heroes at a liquor store on the rough streets of West Chicago. Here's Scott Washburn's story of the incredible Blues drummer, Sam Lay, working his day job.
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Mix a dry martini, put a platter on the turntable and sit back as Mike Heron takes us back to the smooth sounds of the sixties with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Mike talks about hearing his Dad's favorites and finding out they are his favorites, too.
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Here's a Song Story guaranteed to make you smile, if not tear up. Sue Senyk remembers a summer afternoon in the kitchen, her parents slowly dancing, intent on one another, to Wonderful Tonight. A private moment? Or a lesson in love?
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Jonathan Vallis remembers the first time he heard Billy Bragg. And, after travelling the world for the better part of a year, he even learned how to play the song. Here's the story of A New England.
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Steve Barkan's Song Story reminds us that music has the power to awaken sleeping giants and move mountains. And that power doesn't diminish with time.
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Patrick Dorey sends us his Song Story about a time in his life when, with the loss of his Mom, he began to question who he was. The answer he found colors his life to this day.
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Wandering Sheila Velazco is at home in Mexico, Peru or Ireland as she is in the US. Her story remembers her childhood evenings, harmonizing with her siblings. And Wayward Wind is a great tune!
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This one's from the Maritimes (Canada's easternmost provinces) and it features Charlotte Britten and Great Big Sea. Song Stories and university life seem to go hand-in-hand.
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Sandy Senyk remembers his bad drinking days and hearing, for the first time, "some girl called Bonnie Raitt ..." It's "one of the best when night's end is all that's left."
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Join in a pub singalong as Brigitte Stamp remembers her Dad, her ear pressed to his chest to hear the resonance of his voice, as he sang one of his favorite songs, Black Velvet Band.
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Hello You! Yes, YOU, who's reading this right now. Whose name I don't know. But whose Song Story I'd like to hear. Listen to a few Song Stories above. Then, either tell me you haven't got one to tell (not likely!) Or go to the Contact page and see how easy it is to do your own. Then do it and send it to me. I'll turn your story into your Song Story and you will hear it here!