Pacific44 Sunday Sessions featuring Sade and Nothing Can Come Between Us against a warm Las Vegas evening.

Sunday Sessions: Sade and the Songs That Take Us Back

Sade’s music still takes Allen back to his mother’s beauty salon in Waterloo — a reminder that the songs we grew up with keep traveling with us.

5 min read

Open the full Sunday Session — player, story and collection ↗

Some music doesn’t just remind you of a time in your life.

It reminds you of a room.

For me, Sade takes me back to my mother’s beauty salon in Waterloo, Iowa.

I can still picture the atmosphere — conversations, hair dryers, people coming and going — and somewhere in the background, that unmistakable voice.

Sade never needed to overpower a room. The music simply settled into it.

A room I can still hear

My mother’s salon was a place where people were doing things. There was work happening, conversation moving around the room and the familiar sound of the hair dryers. The music belonged to that daily life.

I appreciate that kind of memory now. We don’t always know, while we’re living through an ordinary day, which parts will stay with us. A voice in the background can turn out to be one of them.

When I hear Sade, I don’t need to force the connection. Waterloo is already there. So is the feeling of that room and the knowledge that a recording was part of its atmosphere.

That is one reason I like sharing a little of the story behind what I choose for these sessions. The selection comes from a person. It has a place in my life, and I hope that gives you something to connect with beyond the name of the artist.

A Song That Still Feels Timeless

For this Sunday Session, I kept coming back to “Nothing Can Come Between Us.”

There’s something about that track that still feels sophisticated without feeling dated. The groove is effortless. The vocal is cool and controlled. And the male vocal adds just enough of a duet feel to make the song sound like a conversation rather than a performance.

That’s one of the things I love about revisiting music at this stage of life. You hear things differently.

When we were younger, a song might have simply been something we liked. Decades later, it can carry people, places and entire chapters of our lives with it.

Hearing the conversation

The vocal exchange is one of the things I return to in “Nothing Can Come Between Us.” I enjoy the space between the voices and the way the groove gives them somewhere to sit. I hear an ease in the recording that makes me want to keep listening.

A familiar song still has details worth noticing. Perhaps we paid attention to the chorus years ago and hear the bass differently now. Perhaps a backing voice finally catches our ear. We have more ways to listen than we did the first time.

That is why I wanted the complete song on this page. A short clip can remind us of a favorite, but a full recording gives us time to enjoy how it unfolds.

The Las Vegas film brings this session into the place Angie and I call home now. The evening light, the turntable and the skyline make a setting for the present-day listening. The story still reaches back to Iowa.

I like letting those chapters share a page. We don’t have to choose just one version of our lives to carry forward. The places we’ve been and the people we’ve known keep informing what we enjoy today.

The Soundtrack Keeps Traveling

Pacific44 has always been about the journey to 60 and beyond, and music is a big part of that journey.

The songs that stayed with us didn’t stop mattering because the calendar changed.

Sometimes they matter more.

They connect who we were to who we are now.

So this Sunday, turn it up a little. Let the song play all the way through. And pay attention to where it takes you.

For me, it still finds its way back to Waterloo.

What does this song bring back for you?

I hope these sessions give you an opportunity to think about your own soundtrack. A family member’s favorite. A recording that played in a place you spent a lot of time. A voice that feels familiar even after years away from it.

There may be someone you could share it with today. Send them the song or ask whether they remember it. A small musical connection can lead to a conversation you’re glad you had.

For this Sunday, I’m sharing Sade and a little of Waterloo. I’m glad to have a place at Pacific44 where both can stay.