What Makes Music Nostalgic?

Lately, I've found myself being very "future-focused" in terms of looking forward and really working towards the goals I've set for myself. In turn, for some reason, this got me thinking about the past.

Back when I was in high school, I found myself constantly longing for the past, and nothing provided a better vessel for this than music. Back then, "The Logical Song" by Supertramp was "the song" for me. It perfectly bundled together my fondness for the past with a sense of being disconnected from society. From the initial declaration by Roger Hodgson that "When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful" to the adjectives peppered throughout the song that create juxtapositions between how things were ("beautiful," magical," "a miracle") and what they became ("sensible," "logical," "cynical"), the song just clicked for me.

In a sort of ironic twist, I've gotten less nostalgic as I've grown older. But still, there are songs that manage, to put it melodramatically, to whisk me away to bygone days. Some of these songs are linked to personal experiences. Those are different for everyone, so in that sense, what's nostalgic for me won't be nostalgic for others. But there are some songs that so powerfully convey this sense of longing that they transcend individual experiences. Whether they do it directly or indirectly, something about them just works. Lately, I've been wondering what exactly it was, so I figured I'd write about it.

A quick search of the "top ten nostalgic songs" will result in the phenomenon I mentioned a few sentences ago and is exactly what I won't be writing about, namely songs that are tied to personal experiences. Any 90s kid can search for a playlist online titled "songs 90s kids grew up with" and probably find at least a handful of songs that are nostalgic to them because it's what they heard when they were younger. What I'm interested in are songs that can evoke nostalgic feelings regardless of any personal ties someone may have to them.

A few songs come to mind immediately for me. "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen and "Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams are fairly on the nose. "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins is a bit less straightforward (though still pretty clear in its intent). Meanwhile, I wouldn't classify songs like "Yesterday" by The Beatles and "Brown-Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison as nostalgic, at least not in the way that those other songs are. Despite the fact that they show up on some of the nostalgic song lists, this "lost love" theme is different than, albeit similar to, the theme of "pure nostalgia." The lines between the two are a bit blurry and some might disagree with me, but in my mind, they're separate.

That kind of brings me to my first actual point (finally). While songs like "Glory Days" and "Summer of '69" have mentions of love and relationships, it's not the main/sole focus of the song. Bryan Adams isn't sentimental just because of the girl he met at the drive-in movie theater. He also misses the band he formed with his friends and that summer in general. Maybe I'm trying to twist the song to fit into this post because the girl is a big part of it, but she isn't even mentioned until after the first chorus. The song feels like it addresses more than just her.

"Glory Days" is far more certain about where it stands. There's no mention of a romantic interest besides a girl who, back in school, "could turn all the boys' heads." I assume the singer includes himself in "all the boys," but he doesn't expand on it. Instead, the two verses each feature someone who peaked in high school and has seen their life go downhill from there. There's even a missing verse that is not included in the official version of the song because it didn't fit the "high school reminiscing" theme, so Springsteen's intention is clear.

Songs like "Yesterday" and "Brown-Eyed Girl," however, seem to get this sense of longing from one source and one source only. Paul McCartney yearns for yesterday, when "love was such an easy game to play." Van Morrison has trouble finding his way because he's on his own, without the brown-eyed girl from his past. Neither of them misses their bands or their high school baseball glory days or the past as a whole, they just miss their exes.

Beyond the theme though, the atmosphere of the song is extremely important in its ability to conjure up this sense of nostalgia. Two songs can be about the same thing, but the energy, instrumentals, and vocals can be completely different. One may work perfectly, while the other falls flat. While I wouldn't go as far as saying it falls flat, "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John is another song I saw on a lot of these nostalgic song lists. Now, I might just be biased because I personally was never a huge fan of "Crocodile Rock," but it just doesn't manage to create that pang in my chest that I feel when listening to some of these other songs. "Crocodile Rock" is upbeat, but music can be upbeat and still be nostalgic. The real issue I have with it is that I think it's just a bit over the top. That "oh, lawdy mama" that Elton John belts out in the middle of the chorus, along with the nasally "la la la" vocables kind of kill any sentimentality the song tried to express for me.

Compare that to "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins, a song that sounds like a daydream. Billy Corgan's vocals are light and almost whispery at the beginning. They build up in the choruses, but the verses always return to this calmer tone. I think the part of the song that contributes the most to its nostalgic atmosphere is the vocal sample that appears in the introduction and after most of the lines in the verses. It creates a kind of pulse, sounding almost like an echo from the past. Thinking about it, it's strange that such a simple sound can be so nostalgic, but I really think it brings it all together in "1979."

To me, those traits, along with occasional phrases or verses that masterfully manage to put such a vague and complex feeling into words, are what make songs nostalgic on more than just a personal level. The theme might not always be directly relatable, but somehow we are able to feel the pull and longing expressed in this music, even if we didn't peak in high school, we were never in a band, and we didn't hang out with the "freaks and ghouls."