Fun trip down memory lane, thank you! I never scrapped any photo of that trip from 23 years ago. So this is a great start for that! Journaling: THAT mixtape! It's always a trip down memory lane when I hear that song on the radio. That's what we heard over and over again in S. car during one Duhnen vacation, on cassette of course! Otherwise I only remember “Little Dinosaur” from the tape, also by The Bates. We were at the "Asi Camp" with J. and J. in 2001, 23 years ago...
I translated the lyrics in the gallery and here's a translation of my journaling: "For me, it's not summer until we have school graduation and we sing "Summer is short". Even though I've heard it so many times by now, it's increasingly just as magical every year. It's definitely one of the perks of being a teacher."
I chose Chantilly Lace by the Big Bopper from 1958. It was my mom's favorite song. She loved the Big Bopper. Unfortunately, he was killed in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/moc12-day-29-chantilly-lace-600.561794/
Normally I groan over lyrics challenges, but you said, something about a song popping into your head on a regular basis, along with memories, and instantly I thought of this... I believe I saw that the song came out in 1991, so it is a VERY old memory... I had fun gathering images, but was unable to depict a dark dive type of bar... So I went with bright neon things... not the direction I originally intended to go... The lyrics ar every long and all about heartbreak... so I picked this one phrase because I thought it was more uplifting....