Don't Take Me Seriously - Book - Page 200
Featured commentary
Melting memories and Kodak moments
M
y friends, I have finally
begun to tackle the
daunting and longbelated task of scanning a trunkfull of family photos — turning
them into digital images so that
I can then create DVDs of my
daughters’ childhoods for them as
keepsakes.
Yeah, awww.
And, as I scan-away, pausing at
every photo to think back fondly
and tearfully to “the good old
days,” the lyrics “Preserve your
memories; they’re all that’s left
you” haunt me.
Now, in my poorly preserved
memory, it would seem that,
for decades, Eastman Kodak
used those lyrics and the
accompanying music in its
television commercials.
But, apparently, it didn’t.
It was only the poignant
power of the Simon and
Garfunkel “Bookends” song
that nostalgically and forever
embedded that line in my mind.
Time it was, and what a time it
was, it was
Jim
WALKER
DON’T TAKE ME SERIOUSLY
A time of innocence, a time of
confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a
photograph
Preserve your memories;
they’re all that’s left you
And I pause here, yet again, to
dry my eyes and blow my nose.
(Visit http://bit.ly/9SWRxA,
and I triple-dog dare you to listen
to the song, while looking at
old family photos, and not start
bawling like a schoolboy with a
stubbed toe.)
Now, I had to research the
above lyrics, because I had
also, mistakenly, yet logically,
associated those “memories” lines
with the Simon and Garfunkel
song “Kodachrome.” I mean, you
know, preserve your memories
on film, i.e., Kodak, ipso facto,
Kodachrome. Right?
Well, I was wrong, but Kodak
did use “Kodachrome” in
commercials and, from that song,
we get the famous line “Mama
don’t take my Kodachrome away.”
Sadly, Mama didn’t listen. She
got drunk and mean and took
our Kodachrome away. Digital
photography has all but eliminated
the use of it, and Kodak stopped
making it. And this highly
respected company, which
“owned” a large part of the last
century, is now struggling through
bankruptcy and reorganization.
The company that preserved so
many of my “Kodak moments,”
so many of my memories, is in
danger of becoming one.
Well, Kodak is trying to catch
up with the times and to remain
relevant and I, if only for nostalgic
reasons, hope it makes it.
Maybe I can follow its example.
Now, there are other wistful
songs that were cleverly used
in Kodak commercials. “Turn
Around” was one, and “Times of
Your Life” another. And, though I
found no record of it, my memory
remembers “Memories.”
So, if I remember my point,
what we are really discussing here
is memories, and the way they
melt, like Silly Putty, into new
shapes when we leave them to
their own devices.
In fact, there’s another line from
“Kodachrome” that relates to losing
memories, and it rings true to me,
as I’ve pretty much forgotten “all
the crap I learned in high school” —
which is probably a good thing.
On the other hand, it is a
humbling thing to relive an old
memory with someone who was
there — and to find out that each
of you remembers something
different. Who is right? Who
knows? — unless you have a third
geezer present to cast the deciding
vote. The classic song from
“Gigi,” “I Remember It Well,”
illustrates this humorously:
… We dined with friends
We dined alone
A tenor sang
A baritone
Ah, yes, I remember it well …
Now, as I pull out each old
photo from my dusty trunk, each
re-discovered treasure, I realize
how much “life” is preserved on
those prints and how many of
those memories only exist in this
hard form, as they are no longer
retrievable from the cobwebbed
corridors of my brain.
And I will dutifully digitize
those prints, so that they can
be stored, incorruptible, in tiny
spaces, and so they can be beamed
out instantly to anyone I choose, at
any time. Maybe, someday soon, I
can download them back into my
brain and those bygone days will
be fresh and clear and alive again.
I will keep my trunk-o’-pics,
just the same, because there is
something incredibly moving
about holding those memories,
about physically touching them.
And though the images may fade
with time, I say:
Thank you Kodak, and please
don’t go away.
Preserve your memories;
they’re all that’s left you
Comment at jwalker@thesignal.com or at http://Twitter.
com/DontSeriously.
