5 Classic Songs That Will Instantly Remind Boomers Of Their Parents

Many of the artists who defined the listening tastes of Boomers' parents may be especially evocative for Boomers themselves. Though such classic songs may not be considered Boomers' own favorites, they have the power to transport them to their parents' living rooms and summon vivid childhood memories. Some may say that Boomers had the best music — the Beatles alone may make that claim true — but even before the dawn of rock 'n' roll, the singles charts were full of classic tracks that played to the taste of the previous generation.

We've compiled a list of five records that were huge hits when Boomers were little kids, and which their parents, who may have belonged to the Greatest Generation or the Silent Generation (named for its reputation for conformity) quite likely were big fans of. These are tracks that, if you were a kid at the time, you may have only heard in the background and not paid too much attention to. But listen again, and there's a good chance they now occupy a part of your psyche especially linked to your childhood memories of your parents as they relaxed at home playing records.

Singer and pianist Nat King Cole has one of the most recognizable voices in all of popular music, with a timbre and diction that make his records as smooth and sweet as honey. "Unforgettable" is one of his defining records, written by Irving Gordon and released as a smash hit single in 1951. 

"Unforgettable" is achingly romantic and moving in a way that few songs have managed to achieve. With an elegant orchestral arrangement by Nelson Riddle adding an epic touch to the otherwise warm and intimate song, it is likely the "our song" of countless married couples of the Silent Generation.

Cole's voice sounds especially haunting to modern ears. Its old-school clarity and directness is rarely found in music produced today. Meanwhile, the lyrics' preoccupation with memory also makes the song inherently nostalgic, as do the soaring strings that seem to induce a dreamlike state as you listen.

Perry Como's beatific baritone helped him sell over 100 million records in a career spanning six decades. He had scores of hits, but perhaps his greatest work was the Grammy-winning "Catch a Falling Star," which became the first certified RIAA Gold Record following its release in 1957.

Penned by songwriters Lee Pockriss and Paul J. Vance, "Catch a Falling Star" is as simple and memorable as a nursery rhyme, which doubtlessly makes it especially memorable to those who were children at the time. Its strong, playful images burnish the song in your memory within just a few bars, while the melody and hypnotic backing vocals make it a song that is likely to go round and round in your head long after you hear it. With its uplifting lyrics and tone, it is also a song Boomers are likely to have heard being whistled around the house by their parents.

Bobby Darin may have been the most effortlessly endearing of all the big band numbers that dominated the charts during the Rat Pack era. The crooner was clearly inspired by Frank Sinatra in particular, and "Beyond the Sea" is a swinging earworm that has long captured the imaginations of young and old alike. The 1959 hit song was written by songwriter Jack Lawrence from the 1946 French song "La Mer" by Albert Lasry and Charles Trenet, with Lawrence turning a song about the sea itself into an emotionally-resonant tale of longing.

In Darin's hands, the message of the song becomes celebratory, with the narrator's reassurance that their lover is waiting for them becoming the emotional center of the song. The song builds to a big band crescendo, but remains a cozy, sing-along track that evokes the same homely charm as the big Christmas songs of the same era. Today, "Beyond the Sea" commands a larger listenership on Spotify than other Darin hits such as "Mack the Knife," and it is the song's warmth that undoubtedly summons a joyous sense of nostalgia for modern listeners.

Possibly the ultimate slow dance number, Etta James' sumptuous "At Last" was a well-known song when it was released in 1961, a cover of an earlier version by The Glenn Miller Orchestra that was a popular single, and that the legendary singer would likely have heard as a child. While James' version wasn't a huge success as a single, it serves as the title track to her game-changing studio album, and slowly but surely came to be the song that most defined James' career.

The Library of Congress has added "At Last" to the National Recording Registry, praising the singer's performance for soulfully portraying the relief of finding the solace of love, which may have been informed by James' tragic real-life story. And indeed, the song may have represented a sense of finally finding home to many listeners of the Silent Generation, whose childhoods in many cases had been scarred by war and economic depression. The string arrangement on the track is tasteful and gentle, and while James delivers the song with her trademark power, "At Last" is a song with the power to soothe.

On the other end of the emotional spectrum from "At Last" is Patsy Cline's heartbreaking ballad, "Crazy." A country-pop classic that was a huge smash on its release in 1961, "Crazy" was penned by legendary songwriter Willie Nelson. At the time, Nelson was a budding songwriter, and according to his autobiography "It's a Long Story," the song was borne out of his own suspicion that he was mad for pursuing music while other people provided for their families with conventional work. However, he twisted his theme and turned it into a love song, creating what would eventually become Cline's signature tune.

Cline's rendition was based on a very rough demo Nelson provided, and it took her team hours to build the gorgeous backing track before the singer added her vocals. Though Cline was not initially a fan of the song, her take is extraordinary in its raw emotion, and it is obvious by the time she got to the take that she had it in her bones. The song is now a standard and has been recorded by numerous artists, including Nelson himself, but nothing has managed to top Cline's original.