I notice I have a storehouse of songs from old TV shows and commercials floating around in my head. Apparently, I memorize tunes without knowing it or even trying. ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ with Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden and ‘The Munsters’ featuring Yvonne DeCarlo and Fred Gwynne, immediately come to mind. When you mentally sing to yourself or hum the song, the characters come alive and so do certain episodes.
Many moons ago, on one of the Boston channels, there was a commercial for classical music recording that featured a white-haired aristocratic man in a tuxedo that came into view as music welled in from behind he said, ‘I’m sure you recognize this lovely melody as ‘Stranger in Paradise’, but did you know that the original theme is from The Polovtsin Dances by Borodin? So many of the old melodies… et al…’ How did that advertisement of classical music get into my brain?!?! ( I hated classical at the time and made fun of it!!! Little did I know I would get bitten by the Mozart, Vivaldi, and Handel classical bug later!!)
Every sitcom and TV show has its own theme song. When we were kids, the songs were far more interesting and memorable, but then so was music, in general. To this day, I can still hum every tune, sing the words, and mouth out the percussion. ‘Get Smart’, ‘Three’s Company, “Green Acres’ starring Eddie Arnold and Zsa Zsa Gabor, and more than any one single song, ‘Mission Impossible’! ‘Your mission, Mr. Phelps…’
The other day I was watching the news on PBS and as the show was wrapping up, I could hear my two girls, 10 and 15 years old, singing the theme song from the PBS News Hour. They hummed out every note together, as if rehearsed, although it came out spontaneously, as if an afterthought. I suppose that says how infectious music can be, listening purposely or not.
‘Gilligan’s Island’ lyrics are still in my head!
Have you noticed when you hear a certain song you can place the summer it came out, the girl you were sweet on, and where you lived at the time. We are taking it in listening or not. ‘The Boys of Summer’ by the Eagles (I was dating Suzanne Therrien), ‘Hold The Line’ (playing pool at the Red Rose Pub in Tampa FL) from Toto, ‘Avenging Annie’ by Andy Pratt while skipping school in Belmont MA, and countless others.
Scent, colors, foods, music register in parts of the brain we only half understand. The medial prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain or the area directly behind your forehead, says a Study of Music, Memory, and Emotion.
