The Nostalgia Effect

Last night...I located a cd...of the first album of songs I ever made...in Britain.
A relative I hadn't seen for decades...had asked me to send him...this cd...at one
point even quoting song words from it. As I listened to it...I was reminded of the kinds of songs I wrote...in my early song making days...and the territory I've travelled...since then. When people ask for songs of mine...they heard me do a long time ago...I want to say to them...although I still stand by my early songs..."but I've written so many other songs since then". These days ...I don't say that anymore...as once I might have done. That's because...I now understand what is at work...with this insistence on the "old material". I think...we human beings...tend to associate a song or songs...with long gone eras in our lives ...and many years later...that is what likely rules...i.e. that given a choice between ...a long ago song...and a "new and improved" song...people will often choose the one that registered on them...a long time ago. You could call it..."the nostalgia effect" ...at work here. For one thing...an old song will remind a person...of a time when he or she...was much younger than now...and people tend to look longingly...at those "gone forever" times. Anyway...today...I'm going to post a package to my relative...with that first record of mine he requested...and just in case...he might be open to it...a more recent cd of mine. It'll be interesting to hear...what he has to say...about the second album...that for him...doesn't have the "nostalgia effect"...working for it........................Quester.