Browsing YouTube for videos of interviews with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, I come across a song entitled “Charlie Kaufman” by the band First Rate People. I notice something peculiar. The album cover for the album on which the song is featured on looks oddly familiar. I search the band’s name into Google and go to their BandCamp page and listen to said album, which is actually an EP, entitled It’s Never Not Happening. As I listen to the EP, the song “Girls’ Night” comes on. Sounds nice, I’m enjoying it. Then, the singer sings the line “I wanna send make a postcard, telling you that I’m crashing.”

My heart stood still. A whirlwind of dormant, four-year-old memories come rushing back to me at catastrophic speeds. I remember where I saw that album cover, I remember where I saw that line from the song.

They say that scent is one of the most powerful memory triggers, and while I don’t disagree with that, I’d say sound, and more specifically certain songs, come in a close second.

I tend to associate special moments, events, times in my life with music, with songs. Britney Spears’ song “…Baby One More Time” was the soundtrack to my preschool years. “Feel Good Inc.” welcomed me into being an age with double digits. And pretty much every Bright Eyes song soundtracked my sad freshman year.

While you almost never have control over what memories your mind will decide to remember five years down the line, you can certainly control what songs you associate with each event. My piece of advice is if you have the slightest gut-feeling that certain times and moments in your life you are experiencing now might be memorable, don’t soundtrack these moments with your favorite tunes.

Alright, I admit, sometimes if you decide to do this, it can make those memories even more succulent and enjoyable when you play them back in your head. But, many, many times I have listened to a song that I would consider to be a “favorite” while with a person of the opposite sex. And while I get along with said person at the time, more often than not I find myself not in friendly relations with the girl and end up “hating” the song.

Okay, maybe I don’t hate it. I mean how could I? I loved it at one point. But now, sadly, the song has associated itself with that girl and her memory, while I myself do not.

Yes, it’s a completely selfish thing to say keep your music to yourself, but I’d rather be able to have the option of reliving the occasional bad memories and sour relationships (who relives bad memories?) with my head held high to Cee-Lo Green’s “’Forget’ You!” as opposed to down low to Elliott Smith’s “Say Yes.”