Do you ever listen to some songs and wonder how they transport you to a different place, and sometimes make you find a time in oblivion that probably didn’t even exist?
That’s the feeling of nostalgia for you.
Music has the power to make you feel all kinds of emotions, and sometimes it is just structured in such a way that it stimulates our brains to head back in a journey to a time floating somewhere in the dark matter.
Sometimes it is simply just the era the music comes from, which is reminiscent of the time that passed in your life when you perhaps first heard it, or sometimes it is just the words that make you reflect back and transcend into space.
But perhaps the most gloomy kind of nostalgic emotion is one, that isn’t necessarily associated with an actual event or memory from the past. Some compositions just have that power to make you go there. To dwell into the gloom and doom of the non-existing nostalgic moments.
Here are 10 such powerful songs, that will incite that notion of nostalgia within you:
10) Hey Brother – AVICII
Just like ABBA’s ‘Fernando’ (featured later in this list), AVICII’s beautifully composed ‘Hey Brother’ is also about reminiscing over a childhood before it was taken-over by war and everything else that comes with being an adult. The fact that the EDM producer died at an early age, doesn’t help the situation either. It has a truly sad story and backdrop that surrounds it, yet it is an unmissable track about reflecting back at simpler times.
9) Circle Of Life – Elton John
The Lion King is one of the greatest animated films to have come from Disney and everything about it has the ability to really ‘take us back’ to those days – including the soundtrack! But with specially this particular song, about the cycle of life that surrounds us, Elton John strikes just the right chords.
8) Love Like This – Natasha Bedingfield & Sean Kingston
There’s a childlike innocence in the lyrics of this Natasha Bedingfield and Sean Kingston hit from the early 2000’s, that makes it a perfect song about ‘childhood crushes’ and every emotion that goes with it. Plus the fact that it came out around one of the most missed musical eras for the present generation – the early 2000’s. Truly nostalgic.
7) Waiting For Love – AVICII
Another AVICII track which finds itself on the list, courtesy of the musician’s ability to bring strange and gloomy melancholia in his compositions. Waiting For Love is beautifully written, composed and sung and it will certainly take you on a trip!
6) Mercy – Duffy
The song is reminiscent of everything that the first-half of 2000’s was about. With a lingering feeling of an era gone-by, reminiscent of the brief success of Duffy and of the incredible variety of talented artists that sprouted during this time. Mercy will take you back, especially if you were keenly listening to radio back in the day.
5) Don’t Play That Song – Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin had the ability to make the listener feel every word that would come out of her mouth, enabling a visual of the lyric she would sing about. And she does the same with this classic recording, as she reminisces over her first love, her first kiss and her first heart-break.
4) Daniel – Elton John
Here is another Elton John song on the list, packed with nostalgia due to it’s retro music reminiscent of an era gone-by and with John reflecting back at his childhood, while missing his old brother who’s far far away. A song about adolescence and the bygone chapters of life. Gloomy, nostalgic, but incredibly beautiful.
3) Mrs. Robinson – Simon & Garfunkel
This whole composition is triggering – like many other of Simon & Garfunkel’s songs from the 70’s. Especially if you grew up in that era, or lived your youth through it, it will trigger that emotion. But even if you didn’t, the power of the duo’s songs, something about the way the music has been structured and sung, will transcend and take you to places.
2) Fernando – ABBA
Perhaps it is the melancholic lyrics that look at an era of youth, gone-by, in retrospect – of the bridges that were crossed and the wars that were fought. This song is induced with bittersweet nostalgia, with the power to take you to a place in the past that you never visited. And perhaps that is what makes it ABBA’s greatest recording (or at least one of their greatest).
1) Summer Of 69 – Bryan Adams
Apart from the fact that it reminds most of us, 80’s and 90’s folks, of our childhoods from the time it was released, the song itself is about looking back at the youthful days of life and reflecting back at the first loves and the first adventures that we took on. With the image of a young, innocent-looking Bryan Adams in your head, as his life gets played out in front of him – the song – upon each listening – serves as an incredible ride filled with nostalgia that will overwhelm you with emotions.
Here are 3 more songs that have to get an ‘honorable mention’ outside of this list:
Yesterday – The Beatles
Into The West – Annie Lennox
Ordinary Miracle – Sarah McLachlan