What Time is it?

I think that Pandora Radio can read minds.  Or at least freak me out when I use it.  I was on a run yesterday and the Journey song 'Separate Ways'  came on.  That in itself is not weird or odd, as I had the radio set to Summer Hits of the 80's. 

What made it a bit spooky is that I was thinking about time when the song came on.  Stay with me...

Separate Ways was released on  February 5, 1983, and was the commencement song at my high school graduation that May.  When they played the song at graduation, it was met with a bit of 'meh' from the graduates and even less enthusiasm by the family and friends in attendance.  I did not own the Frontiers album and have never purchased the song from iTunes.  But every time I hear the opening keyboard riff, I immediately flash on a orange moon over the Palo Verde High School football stadium 29 years ago.

I know that songs can trigger memories, but it got me to wondering...with the access we  now have to all kinds of  things from our collective past, are we in danger of not having those trigger moments of memory?  It used to be that we were much more dependent on our own internal memories, as we didn't have the internet to look up what year Sound of Music came out (1965) or who was the original lead singer for Faith No More (Chuck Mosley), and if we wanted to see the Sound of Music we had to wait until it came on TV.  Now, with nearly instant access to well, just about everything, we no longer have to wait. In turn , I don't think we relate to time in the same way we used to. Our 'fond remembrances' are now merely playlist and web sites.  We have even reduced our over beer arguments about who had the highest batting average In the American League in 1963 (Carl Yastrzemsk  .321) to a game of how fast can you get the info on your smart phone.  We're loosing the need to remember, and replacing it with the ability to find.

So, back to time.

I think that this generations relationship with time is changing, compressing if you will.  When we were younger, 20 years was a long time, and 50 was a lifetime.  This was due, I believe, to our dependency on our own memories. Now, when you are listening to Meet The Beatles, do you eve stop to realize that the music you are enjoying is 48 years old? 99% of the time , I don't.

Do you think our parents, or grandparents related to time in the same way?  How many times to you find yourself saying "that was HOW many years ago?" 

When Separate Ways came thru my headphones, it took me back and made me recall a fun time in my life. then I thought about all the things that had happened in my life since then, how much TIME had gone by. In the end, I just felt...old.

To end this on an upbeat note, here is possibly one of the the worst music videos  ever...still a pretty good song.