I was thinking about music the other day, and how strongly it’s tied to memory for me. So I thought it would be fun to scroll through my music collection and pick out some tracks with strong associations. None of these associations make any sense, but I can listen to any of these songs and be taken to exactly the same place every time.

(Feel free to laugh at my taste in music which has basically not evolved since I was about 14.)

Pictures of You, The Cure

Why yes, I was that teenager who listened to the Cure incessantly. I also wore a lot of black.

(I still do both those things.)

This song, and the entire Disintegration album, takes me back to family holidays in the South West of Australia. It’s a good 5 hour drive from Perth to Albany, and as a teenager my trusty Discman was my first line of defence against having to listen to the cricket the entire way. So this song is the dry summer sheep paddocks finally giving way to greenery and cooler weather as we’d approach the south coast. It’s cool drizzly mornings in the middle of summer. It’s long walks along some of the most beautiful coastline in the world.

(It’s also: being a teenager who’s grumpy about enjoying these things with her parents.)

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