Have you ever heard a song, smelled a perfume or tasted food that instantly transported you to another place and time? I had that experience while having lunch the other day with my mom and two sons at the Mandarin restaurant, our after-Mother’s Day treat. The background music was instrumental (elevator music) versions of various easy listening songs. As we walked in, the song was Moon River.

I must have been about six years old, and I remember lying with my head on my mom’s lap, dozing as we drove the winding roads to or from my grandparents’ cottage in the Laurentians. (Bench seats and no seatbelts!) I’m not sure why I connect that song with the trip so much; for sure we crossed a river or two along the way, and maybe there was a moon overhead.

The song is forever linked in my mind to Andy Williams, for whom, apparently, it was never a chart hit. Looking it up, I see that it was originally sung by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and it’s since been performed by a diverse crowd that includes Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Brightman, R.E.M., Morrissey and Johnny Mathis.

Now, of course, I have it stuck in my head.

What songs bring back memories for you?