music memoir vol 1: the lion king, barbie and greek folk
tracking my childhood memories through songs
A few months ago, I was overstimulated on a night train and wound up reflecting on the impact of music on my life. After a failed attempt to write my feelings out, I let the music playing through my headphones swallow me up instead.
There are a handful of long winded explanations based on cognitive psychology and neuroscience that tie music and memory together and I wish I was qualified enough to break each of them down, but I’m not.
The simplified version as I understand it is that the hippocampus, a region of the brain, is involved in both memory formation and music processing. Music can stimulate the hippocampus which leads to the encoding of the memory associated with the music. The song associated with the encoded memory can then serve as a retrieval cue which triggers the linked memory. Associative, emotional, contextual and autobiographical memory and nostalgia are some of the terms I came across when searching for reasons.
These concepts are also the basis of music therapy.
All I can offer beyond my basic understanding is the evidence collected throughout my life. So I made a list of songs that back up this connection. Nearly 24 years of music influences conduct a pretty lengthy list so welcome to the first of several parts of the soundtrack of my life!
Childhood and early adolescence:
1. How You Remind Me by Nickelback
Unlikely song for me to start with, but there’s a greek version of this song that must have been popular when I was little, because one of my first memories attached to music is the greek cover. It could have been remixed with the original but I vividly remember it playing on the radio when I was in the car with my mum in our old car, repeatedly. I couldn’t have been older than 5 years old and I knew not one word of English the first time I heard it but whenever I listen to the original it still takes me back to one of the first memories I have of my life since gaining consciousness.
2. The Circle of Life from the Lion King
I had a tin Lion King music box that played a short rendition of this song which, if my memory serves me right, my parents bought for me at an airport on our way back from a family holiday. I have a hazy memory of watching Mufasa’s death for the first time, Simba’s guilt as he looks up at the night sky and him and Nala falling in love with Timon and Pumba watching from a distance, on the screen in my first home, a tiny two-bed flat. The box’s melody now reminds me of the warm, early morning sun peeking through the windows in the living room of my first home.
I usually opt for Can You Feel the Love Tonight and This Land for my nostalgia because of how drastically different the original the Circle of Life is to the version of my music box, but truthfully I think any old Disney score could capture the magic of an early 2000s childhood.
3. Into a Nighttime Sky by Jeremy Zuckerman
Anyone who has watched Avatar: the Last Airbender can relate to the nostalgia this song brings. My brother and I used to watch the show translated in greek, which my mum would download for us. I remember the dreaded loading bar on her laptop that would sometimes take days to fill out and binge watching in my room with my pink princess bed canopy above our little heads. Mum never downloaded the last season for us, so we paused at the end of Book Two for about ten years, until a fated night spent at Muscat International Airport in October 2023, when we downloaded the episodes ourselves and rewatched until the end.
This song sounds like mine and my brother’s childhood being put on hold when we reached the end of the last episode of Book Two.
4. Under the Sign of Winx from Winx Club
There was a period when the mornings of my Saturdays were booked for dance lessons before they eventually got moved to Wednesday afternoons. Shortly after the switch I discovered that Winx Club episodes aired on a greek channel every Saturday at that time. I watched each episode after the early hours spent in my room with the door closed and sparkly pink chaos on my floor.
I had a large, orange box that was filled with a collection of my little pony and littlest pet shop figure toys, strawberry shortcake dolls and enough houses to build a village. Every Saturday I would wake up early, I would open it and build, not only villages but, entire universes, often in the company of my brother before going downstairs to put the Winx channel on.
This theme sounds like opening the orange box and playing in my room on a Saturday morning.
5. Please Don’t Die by Peter Pan 2003
The first time I watched this film was with my cousins at my grandma’s house on my dad’s side, on her box tv. Everyone else lost interest halfway through, leaving me to watch the rest on my own, sat as close to the tv as possible, in the chair placed less than a meter away from it. I fell in love with Jeremy Sumpter and rewatched it every day for several days after. I cried during Wendy and Peter’s kiss and goodbye every time, and this song is what plays in the background during both of those moments. Wendy’s line “I’m sorry I must grow up” has stuck with me, because I knew even then that I didn’t want that either, and that I would go on to repeat it to myself for the rest of my life.
6. Σαν το Καραγκιόζη by Dionysis Savvopoulos on the piano
Another alternative melody that is different to the original but which is still engraved in my brain. I played this song at a recital of the institute where I had my piano lessons, at the end of my first or second year there. It was a six hand piece, and I played alongside two girls that were much older and more experienced than me.
We used to practice at my teacher’s house. I remember what the room we would practice in looked like to this day. It is the same room we were sat in when she said “I take my hat off to you” for managing to keep up with the older girls as a beginner -that’s a direct quote. I remember because it was the first time I had heard that expression and it had filled me with immense pride, that my teacher was impressed with me and thought I’d go far. (I didn’t)
7. Σβήσε Το Φεγγάρι by Dimitris Mitropanos
I grew up listening to greek folk at family gatherings, taverns and during traditional dances. This one or any song by Mitropanos reminds me of my dad, because in my -very biased- opinion, their singing voices sound vaguely similar. I can picture him sat with my mum, his hand gently cupping her knee, as he sings along to this song at a tavern. Sometimes his tone sounds reminiscent of a psalm. I had an inkling, but wanted to clarify, who his favourite singer is when I was picking the greek corner of my brain to settle on the most distinctive song for this. He confirmed that it’s Mitropanos and was flattered when I told him he sounds like him when he sings.
There’s countless of greek folk songs that feel like anchors to Cyprus. I often hear my dad’s voice when I listen to them and it makes me miss home.
8. Live While We We’re Young and They Don’t Know About Us by One Direction
I could come up with a list based on One Direction songs alone. Their entire discography, the band in general defined my adolescence. I remember the first time I watched the music video of Live While We’re Young with my cousin at our grandparents’ house, on the computer in my granddad’s study. I was in sixth grade and was looking forward to summer to live out my main character fantasies, at parties with friends from my class, the way One Direction seemed to be doing in the music video.
I used to sing the songs at the top of my lungs, for the whole house to hear. I remember obnoxiously screaming the lyrics of They Don’t Know About Us in the shower and while blow drying my hair in my parents’ bedroom, thinking that the hair dryer would drown out my singing. Looking back now I find it endearing that I was so innocently passionate and carefree, not caring if they could hear me -and they would always let me know they did.
9. Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses theme
The release of the Barbie film last summer caused all girls who grew up with barbie’s adventures to look back at our girlhood. Barbie songs sound like princess gowns, the shiny plastic heels we all apparently had with little heart shaped rhinestones at the front and matching pajama sets.
I used to watch the films in Greek so songs with lyrics were also translated. The themes are more nostalgic because the simple melodies help me remember being a soft little girl without the reminder that I’m no longer comfortable with my mother-tongue. I can forget for a moment that I’m not as little as I once was.
10. Honourable Mentions
Songs I can’t assign specific memories to but which I can remember listening to over and over during this period:
Tell me Something I don’t Know, Naturally and Hit The Lights by Selena Gomez & The Scene
These were some of the first songs I downloaded on my iPod when I first got it, an extension of my Disney obsession, and they used to make me feel so cool. I used to watch the music videos of all three of them on repeat and was really jealous of Selena Gomez’s hair and style.
Gotta Go My Own Way from High School Musical 2
Love Story and You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift
Right Here, Right Now, Can I Have This Dance, Just Wanna Be With You from High School Musical 3
High School Musical 3 is my favorite out of the trilogy. I always enjoy returning to characters in sagas, because it brings a sense of familiarity and the familiarity was acknowledged in the third film. It also gave me unrealistic expectations about high school and teenage relationships.
I’ll Always Remember You by Hannah Montana
I found it interesting how many songs didn’t include lyrics, they were simply melodies that my brain memorized and plays when I think back to my childhood. It makes sense, considering that at the time most English lyrics would have meant nothing to me, and I am no longer connected enough to my Greek side to be too attached to my Greek/Cypriot influences. My bilingual curse has even reached my memory storing. The Greek classics mentioned are one of the few faint indications I have left that point to my Cypriot roots.
Most songs in this list are examples picked from more generic subcategories. Disney, Barbie Films and One Direction, any song picked from these subcategories would be linked to various memories of the early years of my life. I picked some of the most vivid ones, the ones that I can still visualize when I look back now.
As a huge early 2000s barbie film fan ... i loved this