I’ve had my iPod nano for a technological eternity, a little over a year and five months. In that time, I’ve downloaded 899 songs, an eclectic mix of Latin, American, and international sounds, stretching across time from my Pop’s teenage days to Amy Winehouse’s ubiquitous Grammy winner, “Rehab.” These songs are either ear candy, sounds I find fun or inspiring, or they are deep rooted memory makers, or somewhere in between. Take one of today’s downloads, “Dawn(Go Away)” by the Four Seasons. I grew up hearing my Dad echoing Frankie’s falsetto in “Sherry” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry” but I don’t remember hearing “Dawn” until I heard it as part of the fabulous Jersey Boys this fateful summer. I had rushed back from the ladies’ room during intermission and was lucky to catch this summer. Tears sprang to my eyes for two reasons: it’s another Gaudio musical chestnut and it’s about saying goodbye to a loved one. At the time, maudlin lyrics struck a chord.

Dawn go away,
Please go away.
Although I know,
I want you to stay.
Dawn go away,
Please go away.
Baby, don’t cry.
It’s better this way.

But I listen to it today and I cry because I’m reminded of someone else.
Dawn,
Go away back where you belong.
Girl we can’t,
Change the places where we were born.
Before you say,
That you want me.
I want you to think,
What your family would say.
Think,
What your throwing away.
Now think what the future would be with a poor boy like me.

Good songs, like love, is universal and timeless. The right words and music will always make us feel and think.

So in a few more downloads, my now vintage Nano will be full. I’ll get a new square Nano and fill it with new songs. And they’ll be songs I’ll keep on loving and pass on to my baby.