Lately I’ve been listening to a playlist of songs that remind me of my parents. Who are now divorced. They’re songs you haven’t heard in forever, but the second you hear them—the opening notes of “Leather and Lace,” the opening bass clef piano of “Easy”—they take you right back. Or at least they take me right back. I’m sitting in the back of a station wagon, and my mom is driving around the California highways, crying. The folds of my brain were formed around these songs. (People who know more about music than I do/grew up in Detroit/etc: Don’t beat me up!)

Here’s the playlist:

1. “California Dreamin’,” Mamas and the Papas
2. “A Horse with No Name,” America
3. “Carolina in My Mind,” James Taylor
4. “I Can’t Go for That [No Can Do],” Hall & Oates
5. “Rosanna,” Toto
6. “The Joker,” Steve Miller Band
7. “Easy,” Lionel Richie
8. “Leather and Lace,” Stevie Nicks
9. “Every Breath You Take,” The Police
10. “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” Bobby McFerrin
11. “Time After Time,” Cyndi Lauper
12. “Baby I’m-A Want You,” Bread
13. “Say You Love Me,” Fleetwood Mac
14. “Here Comes the Sun,” The Beatles
15. “Light My Fire,” The Doors
16. “In My Room,” Beach Boys
17. “True,” Spandau Ballet
18. “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” The Police
19. “Colour My World,” Chicago

I bold number 17 on this here playlist because two days ago I was in Hot Mama’s on Pine Street and just as I was taking off my iPod, I heard the opening burps and beeps of “True,” a song that I don’t much ear outside the confines of my earbuds.

The girl behind the counter—surprised, recognizing the song immediately—said, “I love this song. I haven’t heard it in forever.”

Enjoy.