I have mentioned before that I remembered KGON's Rock format beginning on April 1, 1974 and that I was looking for a job at KLIQ on that day. The only song I can remember hearing on that day, while checking out the new station, was "Mockingbird" by Carly Simon and James Taylor. I also have a friend who remembers it being on April 1st but the facts say it was February 1st. I have a recollection of hearing "More Today Than Yesterday" while walking up a steep hill on my way to grade school but the song came out in 1969 and I was halfway through high school at that time. I saw the Spriral Staircase at either the Teenage Fair or KISN Goodguy Fun Festival and I must have been in high School so that part is probably true. I suppose I could have been walking up that hill at a much later time while listening to the song. Something came to my attention though that I can't so easily explain away: I clearly remember hearing "She's A Lady" while on vacation with my parents in Calgary. We were just coming into town when I heard the song. The problem is, I've only been there once, it was 1969 and the song is from 1971! I checked to see if I was confusing it with another Tom Jones song and that doesn't appear to be the case. What would cause a person to have a long term memory of an event that never happened? Does anyone else have a similar experience?

Yes! I think that over time the brain may re-assemble memories somewhat, especially if they are similar in some way. I had a very clear memory of seeing "Disney World" the first time that I saw a color tv demo (a 15" RCA CT-100) in the overflow lobby of the Hill theater in 1954. Craig_Adams pointed out that this could not have happened. I think that my brain combined the early demo with pleasant later childhood memories of escaping to the overflow lobby (during a boring movie) to watch Disney on much later sets (21" CTC5 or even CTC7).

Oh boy, Semoochie, you've gone and done it now. I am in the final stages of assembling a survey/experiment that involves music, the brain, memories, mood and things like that.

Music and the brain is SUCH a fascinating subject to me. I'm not an expert nor a scientist. But I'm tellin' ya, there are some things that the brian does with music that it does with no other stimuli ( Words, pictures, colors, smells, etc. ).

I don't always care what the results or raw data point to - but I like hearing about or reading about specific case studies from different people. It lends a very unique perspective and insight into what kind of person responds to what kind of music and what they actually do with that. I know I've touched on this interest of mine before in here - so I won't hijack the thread. But I will put you on " The list " and hit you up when the seemingly insignificant questions in the survey is/are complete. It will take days to complete the survey and will require some deep honesty - all will be kept private, of course.

If anyone else wants a copy of the survey when it's complete, send an email to me. It's in my profile.

But Semoochie, you ask the kinds of questions that I like to ask as well.

Sorry to sound like I'm stoned. I'm just so close to having it all done and then to have a small thing like you asking such similar questions as I have, fall out of the blue, at this time, gets me excited to start the project.

The False Memory syndrome is very real and can be triggered by the most unexpected or unrelated incident or a seemingly innocent outside influence as well as the most common cause, manipulation by a third party. This topic has been covered in many mainstream scientific publications, including "Skeptic."

A great rock record is just as good as great sex or an illegal drug.

Semoochie said: "What would cause a person to have a long term memory of an event that never happened?"

You're NOT loosing it my friend! You're RIGHT(in a way)! Yes, SHE'S A LADY was issued by Tom Jones in 1971 but I know You well enough that You're RARELY WRONG! With that in mind, I checked to see if Tom Jones had recorded "She's A Lady" years earlier, that it might have been issued at a different time in Canada, which was the case at times. It wasn't but I did find that "She's A Lady" was written by Paul Anka. This opened up the possibility that he or someone else could have recorded it years earlier if it had been written earlier. It was!

Turns out John Sebastian of "Lovin' Spoonful" fame recorded Paul Anka's She's A Lady and released it as a single in January 1969. It made number #62 on the Cashbox Record chart & number #84 on Billboard. So you heard "She's A Lady" but after all this time and later hearing the Tom Jones version, You think that's the version you originally heard. The single was issued on Kama Sutra 254 which was distributed by MGM at the time. "She's A Lady" also appeared later in 1970 on the album called "John B. Sebastian" on MGM 4654, if you want to track it down.

I, for one, really want to be on "the list" CJ. It's an interest of mine too. Has been since I was a kid, seeing faces, things, colors and shapes form in response to music.

Damn cool project. And I don't think anybody needs to be a scientist to find some enlightenment in these kinds of things. We know more than we think we do --it's just inhibited, for what that's worth.

I have found false memories occur with me, when the detail elements of current events overwrite or modify past ones. So, I was somewhere seeing something. I then hear about it from a few other perspectives years later. When I try to connect, some of the original is lost, but the brain can evoke what is left, combine it and present it as "the memory", using what it has accumulated to fill in the details.

We are very powerful abstraction machines. At the core, our minds look for patterns and with them come meaning. As we grow, we code these into abstract bits, useful for differentiating natural sounds from contrived ones, for example.

Have a dog? Next time your dog is in a mood to give you some attention (which is pretty often), look at the dog and whistle a single tone. Hold it for a while, then stop. Often you will see the dog think for a moment, then move on.

Almost every dog will give you it's full attention, cock it's head during the tone, and ask, "what does that mean?". That's how we work at the lowest level, right there.

There are several kinds of memory for me at least. There is simple response memory. These memories tend to be like pictures and fairly static places and people. I might smell something, I've not smelled for a long time, and bam! Suddenly, I'm back in that place associated with it for a while, able to see, feel, hear and maybe touch everything.

Then it's gone.

There is a more general memory and that's kind of the sequence of my life. When it mattered, as in I saw something really new, the detail is high. When it didn't really matter, detail is low and lots of fill-ins happen. False memories, as you put it.

The last one is abstract memory. These are the internal shapes, sounds, feelings, motions, etc... that relate to other things. Music is one, math is another, rules are yet another, emotions sometimes work this way too. The false sensory data helps to model whatever it is I'm trying to remember. These memories change over time as understanding changes.

Thank you, everyone for some carefully worded responses as well as Craig's usual hard work! Kind of interrelated: I don't remember "My Girl" at all but remember both "Hey Girl" and "My Girl/Hey Girl", neither of which were very big hits. I'm actually pretty vague on many non-Supremes, Motown hits. I wonder if KISN played that many of them.

A lot of stations played what were called "stiffs" all the time, not doing very well nationally but maybe caught on in the Northwest or locally.

Slightly off topic: "Windy" had an entire run on KISN before breaking out nationally. When it finally did, it had another run on KISN. Does anyone else remember that?

""Hey Girl" and "My Girl/Hey Girl", neither of which were very big hits."


"Hey Girl" sung by Freddie Scott, written by Carole King and Gerry Coffin was a chart topper in 1963.

Apparently, it's a case of more false memories. "Hey Girl" by Freddie Scott peaked at #10 in 1963, which means it isn't the version I'm thinking of. It would appear I only heard one version and it's the medley from Bobby Vee in 1968 that peaked at #35 and is called simply, "Hey Girl". Where the false memory comes in is inserting the Freddie Scott hit in with the main memory. Thanks, Andy, for jogging my memory!

False memories are a common facet of our collective mental makeup - which is why "eyewitnesses" are not nearly as reliable as often assumed.

"Windy" had an entire run on KISN before breaking out nationally. When it finally did, it had another run on KISN."

That happened on "Devil Woman" by Cliff Richard. KGW jumped on the song early but nationally it didn't break out for a another month or two, so KGW continued to play it even though it was played out in Portland. It was on The Billboard Hot 100 for 22 weeks.