Songs that make you feel the same when you first heard them
 

Ever have a song make such an impression on you that not only do you remember the moment you first heard it perfectly, but you nearly relive that moment every time you hear it again? For me, that song is Sonic Youth's "Hyperstation". I mean, Daydream Nation as a whole blew me away the first time I heard it, but on that song is where it all came together, like revelation...I had never heard music that sounded like that before, discordant yet melodic on a level far beyond anything I'd ever known. It gave me mental visions of towering, monolithic shapes creating forms from void. And to this day, that moment of revelation comes back to me each time I hear it.

What song does that for you?

This doesn't really answer your question but it comes close and you reminded me of it:

Flashback to 1989, I was 17 and on my bike returning from high school (30-45 minutes ride rain or shine), almost home. I was listening to the Pixies for the first time on my Walkman. Some folks will have no clue what a walkman is, Google it :) the cassette was a present from a classmate because the Pixies were playing Pinkpop and I had never heard of them and I was going to this festival.
So I was listening to the Doolittle album for the first time and almost home when I saw this girl I had a crush on, walking her dog. When I noticed her walking, There Goes My Gun came on (with the word gun being pretty much undecipherable to me) and just when I was about to pass her, this is what I heard

Hey, been trying to meet you!


I was flabbergasted ;-)

I don't listen to the Pixies anymore so it doesn't really cover your question.

Hard to tell, because with most songs I love it's a cycle. There are phases where I kind of heard it a bit too often, but when I return to them months or even years later, my love is fully rekindled. There are certain songs that have made me feel all the feelings on several separate occasions. Dave Van Ronk's rendition of Both Sides Now. I remember having my musical library on shuffle during a lengthy busride from Vienna to Berlin. I was just passing through Dresden when the song came on.



And it was as if the world stood still for a moment. Dave's vulnerable performance, the lyrics, the serenity of moving ahead slowly whilst seeing the cityscape pass me by - it all came together in a perfect fusion of atmosphere and substance.



Then on the last day during my trip to New York last year, I found myself wandering Houston Street, trying to get as much out of the sunny September day as possible. My library was once again on shuffle and the song would come on again. Fuck, suddenly all the feelings came pouring in again. I was damn near close to tears. And listening to it now, it still makes me feel pretty much ALL of the feelings. There's a lot of sadness, there's optimism, there's acceptance, there's resignation, signs of a life well-lived as well as regrets. Technically, points go to Joni for penning the song, but it's Dave's stripped down and deeply vulnerable version that makes me stop and linger on for a while.

Back in February 1992, I saw Teenage Fanclub perform The Concept/Satan on SNL and I thought it was one of the best new songs I’d ever heard performed on SNL. The following day I went and purchased Bandwagonesque which had come out the year before.