If I was a professional scientist I would spend all of my time researching the connection between music and memory. Plenty of studies exist on the subject already; I would be on a quest for the definitive answer even though there is probably not a definitive answer since the brain is so mysterious and fascinating. That's okay, futile pursuits don't necessarily bother me.
What does bother me is the fact that I know the words to hundreds (possibly thousands) of songs, yet I can't remember to buy toilet paper unless I write it down. Actually, that isn't how this question started. It started this week when I was driving to LCG's house after work. This has been a challenging week, by the way, because I spent all my free time helping LCG at work. He had a lot of stuff to do and in those instances, I go help. And then Wednesday (the one day I was going to go straight home this week) as I was about to leave work he called and asked me if I could come over and jump his car.
That's a standard call, we believe he should change his name to He Who Forgets To Turn Off His Headlights because I have to jump his car approximately every six weeks. Well, guess what. It wasn't the battery for once, it was the starter. That meant from Wednesday night through Friday, I was in charge of chauffeuring him around. Nothing wrong with that, I get done early on Thursdays and Fridays and his schedule is flexible. However, it was my drive over on Thursday that made me start wondering about how memory works. Or at the very least, how my memory works.
I was taking the freeway instead of Broadway because the trip from Northeast to North is actually easier via freeway that time of day. As I drove along 94 the classic rock station decided to favor me with a play of Mrs. Robinson. Woo! Do-doo-doo-doo-dooo (chicka-boo, chicka-boo). I started to sing along when the verse began and as I was singing I was thinking about how I know all the words to the song and can't remember other things. It occurred to me that maybe I could remember the words because they were set to music and it was actually the music that caused a reflex action. In this case the reflex is being able to remember the words to the song.
A minute later I turned into the world's luckiest amateur scientist because I was able to instantly prove my hypothesis. Right as the where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? line started, I entered the Lowry Hill Tunnel and lost radio reception. I immediately forgot the words to the song and stumbled along as best I could. When I popped out of the tunnel barely twenty seconds later, not only was I still stumbling on the words, I had also lost the tempo and was half a line behind.
A-ha! I thought to myself, the music is the key to remembering the lyrics. That was an exciting conclusion, but I still have to figure out why I can remember songs and not shopping lists. I have to put that study on hold for today, because right now I have to go pick up LCG. They gave us the wrong starter at the auto parts store and even though his new papa is taking care of that, LCG still needs a ride and I'm thinking I should also go pick up a case of beer for Papa. It's the car repair payment that keeps on giving.