Tags
Bob Dylan, Don McLean, memories, nostalgic, Otis Redding, Spain
I’m very sensitive for smells. The smell of a just lightened match reminds me of Christmas, and then particularly the Christmas celebrations at elementary school. When everybody got to bring a candle and could light it on their desk during the celebrations. A few weeks ago I brought some fresh lavender home, I dried it and this evening I burned it to get the lovely lavender smell. This smell reminded me of my childhood vacations in Spain. I remember going on a mission to find a lavender tree (which wasn’t so hard, because the campsite was filled with them), an exciting mission with my father. Then when we got back to the tent we got an aluminium bowl and burned the lavender.
For me smells are connected to emotions and to memories. Sometimes I smell something, but can’t remember the situation, but just the emotion. Because of these things my days can be filled with memories, but also with mood swings. When I smell a certain cooking smell, it reminds me of home, which makes me happy, but sometime homesick. The smell of the sun on my skin, makes me smile. Sometimes I smell the sterile odour of the hospital, and as I think for a lot of people, that sent makes me feel sad or scared.
The thing I love about these moments, is that you remember things you forgot about. So they are probably insignificant at the moment they take place, but apparently they left an impression or an emotion worth remembering.
What I have with smells, I also have with songs. Well, songs are known for bringing people in some kind of mood, but it also makes me nostalgic. Bob Dylan reminds me of the family holidays, Don McLean of my mom, “Sittin’on the dock of the bay” from Otis Redding of starting work early in the morning cause it’s the first song of the list, some French songs about my au pair time and “Awake my soul” from Mumford & Sons of my early mornings in December 2011 delivering newspapers.
Every song has its value and memory. And I think that is what most artists think about, when they write their songs. But how could The Verve know, when they were writing “Bitter sweet symphony” that they would help me to get up in the morning for almost a decade. For me that song means that I have to get up and read, while for others it might have a deeper meaning. That’s the funny thing about interpretations. You can never compel what it means for someone else.
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