hello! yoshi

Yeah that’s a long ass title. But to expand on it, “If my life had a soundtrack, it would go something like this: Sweet Dreams (are made of this) by Eurythmics.” Now this is only the first song.

Long time readers of this blog will realize that I’ve done this a couple times before, here and at hello! blogger. However, this time, I’m actually going to finish this project of mine.

This time around, I’m going to try something different and actually go through the songs which mean the most to me, in some sick or demented way. Or just something that plain makes sense. Instead of offering up a small explanation, I plan to append a story to the song, and it might explain why the song means so much to me.

If you’re wondering what spurred this on, I was going through my music the other day, and came across an old mix tape which my old friend Kate had made. I told her that I was listening to it and wow it brought back so memories. She wrote me back excited about it and told me “It, what I remember about it, was so important at the time.”

That said it all to me right there.

There are songs that mean so much to me at different times in my life. But mostly, a lot of music is just nostalgic and reminds me of times in my life. But as we grow older, get more experience in life, each song takes on a deeper meaning to each of us. I’m not even sure if I’m explaining what I mean very well. So this has all just spurred on a “new” soundtrack of my life. For the first track, I chose “Sweet Dreams (are made of this) by the Eurythmics.”

I’m sure you’re wondering why I even chose this song. In 1983, when the song came out, my family and I were moving to the US, not for the first time, but rather, coming back. But to me, after living in Japan for 7 years, and being 15 years old, it felt like the first time. I remember a lot of this because this song was played constantly on the radio. It almost became very annoying listening to this song.

Of course, over the years, this changed, and this song just reminded me of the drive my family made from San Francisco to New Hampshire, with a few stops in between. We traveled a long ways, and saw some friends along the way. We ran into the Monks in Sacramento, California. The biggest thing I remember about Sacramento was just marveling at the stores and houses. It was so different than Japan.

Then went ahead and saw our friends the Johnsons in Mountain Home, Idaho. My memories of Mountain Home are good, seeing our friends since they moved from Japan, but I distinctly remember Dairy Queen and loving it there. Or perhaps that was another time.

We stopped in Oklahoma as well, to see some relatives, and I think my sister and I must have watched Grease and Grease 2 about a million times. I also remember having a small family reunion as well.

From there, we drove on up to New Hampshire, to Pease Air Force Base to start a new life in the US. I remember arriving there in August I believe, just in time for school to start. Go figure. That was a hell of a summer vacation.

All this is what I remember when I hear this song by the Eurythmics.

[edited] How silly of me not to offer a video of the song. Enjoy.