That Sound Reminds Me Of.....

[Duke]

Name a sound that, if you hear it or remember hearing it, takes you back to a specific time/place or event in your life.

This question was asked on a trivia/nostalgia talk radio show out of Boston I listen to on Saturday nights. My answer came to me immediately.

In every school I attended (K-12), every classroom had a wall clock slaved to a school master clock. The minute hands on these classroom clocks did not move continuously, but moved one minute at a time with an audible "click-click."

Remembering that sound reminds me of sitting in a classroom waiting for that last minute of the class/day to click off. I particularly recall waiting to hear that sound in 8th grade English as our teacher droned on about Pip and "Great Expectations."

 

[Debi]

Train whistle. When I hear a train or hear the whistle, my mind goes immediately to my hometown and memories of my mom. It's one of those "gut hit" moments when this happens.

 

[Paulm]

a diesel engine starting.... or the smell of one running....a sound, or certain smell, or even a certain temperature and breeze, funny how they can bring forth such vivid memories........

 

[garnetsilver]

The sound of an ice cream truck approaching brings back memories of us kids bugging my mother for money to buy a treat. And the way all the kids on the street would be clustered around that truck.

 

[Selectric]

I always loved the sound of a distant whippoorwill on a late summer night. On a really quiet night you could almost hear the river down the hill when camping. Also love the sound of a horseshoe clanging the peg and pool balls being cracked after a break.

 

[Benway]

It's very strange, but thinking about it, I can't recall any sound that does this. The most powerful memories are triggered by scent or taste. I was once walking along and caught a scent in the air from plants that reminded me of a time as a child walking down an alley between my grandparents' bungalow and a fence which smelled the same and sometimes I might suddenly have a flash of an old scent or taste and know exactly what and when it was.
Maybe there's a bit of the werewolf about me?

 

[Lynne]

For me it would be a certain song. There have been some romantic moments that music will take me right back there.

 

[Benway]

I've got one! The ticking of a clock I had as a child. Clocks really as others were the same clock but weren't bright red and didn't have Mickey Mouse on them. The second was copper with traditional hands. I don't know if the Mickey Mouse Clock was from my mum's friend at Disney. Quite possibly. When my mum lived in London she shared a flat with an American girl who went back to the US after my mum took off with my future dad, and got a job at Disney. They stayed long distance friends and I used to get all sorts of Disney stuff sent transatlantic post. I think the Mickey Mouse clock may have been her, but it may have been inspired by the ongoing Disney thing. I must ask. It's a sound I still like but rarely hear now. It's the mechanical tick-toc and how it reverberates a little in the metal casing. It's very distinctive and no recording can quite duplicate it.

 

[GoneWestUtah]

Smells trigger my ancient memories. Sounds, not so much.

 

[ozentity]

I used to run in sprint races when young, when I hear a starting gun today my feet want to take off.