Dearest Rachel –
I don’t exactly have a dream to tell you about this morning, only a piece of music that was running through my head upon waking up at three in the morning. It was a song that I would claim that I’ve never heard before my iTunes algorithm brought it to my attention as I was driving across to Anime Iowa late last week, but, once I heard it, I could swear that I’ve heard in multiple contexts in the past without ever knowing what it was.
I’m told there’s a word for this sort of experience; it’s called ‘anamnesis.’ It’s sort of like déjà vu, except that it specifically pertains to music. Sometimes, in fact, it’s thrown deliberately into a song in order to evoke a certain sense or reaction. An example of this might be the inclusion of the opening line of “La Marseillaise” in Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture or the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love.”
This particular experience on my part, however, was a little bit backward. I’d heard this song in various snippets in the past (and possibly homaged by a different, later band), but I’d never heard the original piece in full until last week’s drive. I wonder if you’d recognize it yourself, in fact, or just say, “Hey, it’s that piece from… ahh… where have I heard this before?”
Since I was driving, and couldn’t look anything up at the time to confirm it, all I could think was that this had to be the theme song for some television program or something. The main theme certainly sounds like the perfect background music for a montage of some sort. Of course, with this all having been replanted in my head this morning, I had to look it all up. Turns out, I would know it from The Eternal Summer of the Spotless Mind…
…which, considering my own fears of forgetting about you and so many specific moments we had together, strikes a little too close to home. Fortunately, while I have watched the actual movie – in fact, I think we both did together (but I can’t exactly remember – see what I mean? – if for no other reason than that it came out long after we were married) – I remember it better for this anime parody of the trailer, so that keeps the mood of this whole thing so much lighter.
When I looked the song up, though, I also noticed that it had been used in Doctor Who at a certain point. Again, it sounds like the perfect music to set an assembly montage to, as the Doctor, perhaps newly regenerated, builds a brand new sonic screwdriver to go with his (or her) new persona. But upon further research, no, it belongs to a peripheral character who has a ‘day in the limelight’ episode, describing himself as a fan of ELO before going into the details of his one encounter with the Time Lord himself.
I really don’t know what I expected from the combination of the song and the show, but this wasn’t quite as I recalled. Maybe you would have remembered it all better; I don’t know.
Then, there’s also the fact that it sounds like other music entirely that I’d heard before; a song that came much later (indeed, the members of this band were long yet to be born when the Electric Light Orchestra came out with its original masterpiece). Whether this is a case of ‘standing on the shoulders of giants,’ or these fellows just trying to create a level of anamnesis, or just an accidental homage, I leave it to you and others to decide. But this certainly came to mind as well when I heard the original:
And that’s how it goes: everyone has their own previous experiences that they bring to any subsequent one that winds up coloring those new ones as they occur. I can tell you about it here – as it’s the best I can do for now, and ever, on this plane – but it’s the sort of thing that’s better when it happens together, and we can relate the things the music – and the media in general – bring to mind in real time.
***
And I suppose that’s really all I have for you today; just another wistful desire to wade with you in your stream of consciousness, and you in mine, playfully splashing each other with our own thoughts as we slowly paddle our way upstream, trying to figure out how we drifted along to this point. I devoutly hope I can find someone else with whom I might be able to ride the rapids of our separate minds to where they empty out into a larger (hopefully more gentle but still scenic) river leading to quaint towns and mighty cities on the way to the great ocean of the world and beyond. But for now, I can only drift along, describing the view as it slowly passes by me, and I look up into the blue sky, wondering if you’re looking down upon me.
If you are, honey, keep that eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 