Old Photographs

A fascinating thing happened today. At a local store early this afternoon, I heard the song that I've been wanting, for so long, to hear. At one point in a relatively recent past, I began to look back in time of all things I'd done, said, and heard during my early years back home. Some were readily accessible while others took a slight effort on my part to call to mind. A few however vaguely trickled and found its way to memory. This song did so in such a fashion, but my only recollection of it was the tune of the chorus — wordless.

And so for a long time since that day of retrospection, I began to look for the other pieces. I asked my relatives who've been living here but they were as clueless as I was, though they admitted they were familiar with the tune. I tried mobile apps that searches for songs given only parts of the tune, but this returned null. I recorded the tune on my midi piano player software and intended to electronically send it to relatives and friends back home yet this never materialized because I deemed I was taking things a little bit too far. And so I ended my search and tucked away this obsession, believing I may never ever find the song.

Years passed until today when I heard the song over radio at a time least expected and when all search had come to a halt. There it was! As soon as I recognized it, I took my iPod, placed it toward the speaker, and recorded the remainder of the song. At home, I listened to it again, googled in part of the lyrics, and at long last, finally found my song.

Coincidentally, part of the words reflect my experience. Here is the chorus:

Old photographs and places I remember
Just like a dying ember
That's burned into my soul
Even though we walked the diamond-studded highways
It's the country lanes and byways
That make us long for home