I just happen to hear Water Song by Hot Tuna on my streaming service this evening. This prompted me to think of how much we associate certain songs and music with a time and place. During my time at Denison I made a lot of strong associations with songs (some I don’t necessarily like.) I was lucky enough to work at WDUB as a DJ and it exposed me to lots of music. Here's a handful of Dension-Song associations:
*The Rolling Stones - Honky-Tonk Woman. The afternoon I moved into my dorm freshman year at Curtis East, I distinctly remember hearing the clinks of a cowbell and then the crash of Charlie Watts's drums. The dorm mate one floor below had just hooked up his stereo and was turning it up to “11”. It seemed to say this is freedom. I’ll always associate that song with my first day at Denison.
*U2 - I Will Follow. On a brisk October night I walked into the basement of Blair Knapp Hall and for the first time into the WDUB studio. There was a girl who I had talked to about poetry and she invited drop by the station to visit. The first song I heard her play was U2 I will follow. It made a strong first impression and I remember the sound effect of the glass dropping and breaking.
Hot Tuna- Water Song. I can’t remember the first time I ever heard this cool but mellow instrumental but I heard it many times around WDUB. It seem to be the perfect laid-back college vibe that served as a backdrop for experiences at Denison.
Steely Dan - Bodhisattva. By my senior year, I had a Friday afternoon slot at WDUB. I remember my last semester, at the end of one of my last shows I played Bodhisattva by request as my sign off song for the day. It breaks the five minute mark and has a frenetic guitar solo as its climax. I can remember leaving the station and walking down for Fraternity row In the late afternoon sun hearing the song blasting out of the Phi Delt house.
Pat Metheny - It's for You. I’ve always associated this song with graduation day. It starts out somewhat joyful but it’s tinged with lots of melancholy, which is how I felt that day--the end of something, a new beginning but also thinking about missed opportunities. Coincidentally, it was used in the movie soundtrack for Fandango, which was also about the end of college.
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