j3studio wrote:

For me, hearing a particular song can key off absolutely visceral memories ...

... it is the mid 2000s. Ivelis and I are in the 2003 convertible, top down, moving fast somewhere out in the mid-west. The bruising (little if any refinement) Bose stereo is on and turned up, meeting (superbly) the only real design brief it has: to be heard clearly at 80 mph with the top down.

The CD changer (remember those?) has Real Life by Simple Minds on and Jim Kerr is singing:

All my love, you're the best,
Every little thing that I possess,
It's all emotion when you take control,
I can feel wild horses running in my soul.

The wind whistles and buffets us and the LS1 rumbles gently and the trick paint glistens in the bright sun.

Quit dreaming this is real life baby