No. Not another person’s name in my life. Not even the iris of my eye. No, this Iris is a song by The Goo Goo Dolls (a great name in and of itself).

There is a lot of speculation as to the title of the song and what the song is all about. Many theories say the band just liked the name. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. I quite like that. Back to the whole “pantser” metaphor.

All that is known for certain is this was the song the band wrote for the 1998 movie City of Angels with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan. He plays an angel who comes to earth and falls in love with a human being (our Meg), so some of the lyrics may seem to pertain to his quest to become human. Doesn’t really matter to me. What this song does do, though, is take me back to a specific place, a specific time and a specific person. We all have these songs, correct? Something that triggers a memory, a moment, a person, a  place. And ‘Iris’ is one of those moments for me.

In fact, it was so powerful that I clearly remember including the chorus in a letter to someone. Because that is the part of the song that completely slays me and connects me to that moment in time. This is the chorus:

And I don’t want the world to see me

‘Cos I don’t think that they’d understand

When everything’s made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am

Okay. Yes. So I was in crisis mode at the time, in some deep, dark place, and hearing this lyric struck a huge chord in me. And the person I shared this with – ironically – was the person who already knew who I was. So maybe it was just sent as a reassurance, as a gesture to say “I know you already understand me and thank you for that.” I’m not really sure now. But i absolutely do remember the time, moment, feeling and person associated with this song. And I know you’ve all been there, too. And I know we all have more than one “song” that instantly transports us to a particular moment whenever we hear it on the radio. The power of music is extraordinary.

So. Are you willing to share? Is there a song, a piece of music, that stops you dead in your tracks before sending you hurtling into a moment in your past?