What song reminds you of the past?

Carolina von Mutius, 12th grade: Glamurosa by MC Marquinho

Até quem não gostava quando ouviu não resistiu…

Sabrina Carneiro, 10th grade: While My Guitar Gently Weeps by the Beatles

The Beatles are amazing. I used to listen to them a lot with my brothers before we moved.

Yoji Watanabe, 11th grade: When We Were Young by The Killers

Don’t tell me you wouldn’t stay up until 11, pounding sodas with your best friend and getting this gem down on Guitar Hero. I just won’t believe you.

Maggie Moraes: Como bem dizia Mario Quintana, nostalgia é quando o passado não reconhece seu lugar e teima em continuar presente. A música Diariamente, de Marisa Monte e Nando Reis, é a expressão da nostalgia pra mim. 

Luis Wolfrid, 10th grade: Unicorn by Dizzy Gillespie

Ever since I first heard this song in Hong Kong, I recall the foggy image of a crowded forest of cement that strangely enough makes me feel at home.

Dr. Carpenter: Man on the Moon by REM

With lyrics like those in “Man on the Moon,” REM approached poetry. The whimsical yet erudite allusions to everything from Newtonian physics to Big Time Wrestling resulted in an irreverence and profundity that kept me returning to the song over and over again. The metaphorical storytelling of REM never condescends; to the contrary, the music expects much of the listener. Nostalgia suggests a sentimental longing for something lost. For me that longing extends beyond missing the group (which disbanded in 2011) to a longing for a time of optimism in popular music that seemed to hold firm to the notion that fans were thoughtful, and that poetry could be both “pop” and commercial. 

Luiza Sayão, 12th grade: Resposta by Skank

Quando a gente foi para os States minha avó gravou um mixtape dos hits brasileiros da época. Lembro que a gente ficava escutando esse CD direto! Ultimamente, essa música tem tocado no rádio e aí bate a saudades daquele tempo.

Carol Kim, 11th grade: Afire Love by Ed Sheeran

This song reminds me of my grandparents and how they were really in love even in sickness. I miss that.

Mr. Jensen: The Pretender by Jackson Browne

When I first heard it as a teenager I could not figure out how one’s idealism can diminish with age. “Caught between the longing for love and the struggle for the legal tender.” Check out the lyrics in the last stanza.

Edu Coccaro, 12th grade: Solveig’s Song by Edvard Grieg

First up, the lyrics are about longing for lost days (although I prefer the voiceless version). This song reminds me of a windy, rainy day, the sort of time I think nostalgia would kick in.

Mr.Collins: Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice

Class of 1991.

Alex Daffara, 10th grade: The River Kwai March by Mitch Miller

This song brings back the essence of childhood waterpark background music fun.

Leo Oliveira, Class of 2014: Day is Done by Nick Drake

Listening to this song makes me reflect on recent events and the direction my life is heading; it takes me back to the end of different events and makes me reevaluate decisions made. Out of these, Graded life is the recurring flashback (I clearly remember listen to this song over and over during graduation week), and the people I’ve said goodbye to are the ones I’m most reminded of when the day is done.