down memory lane

down memory lane

Considering a set or series of memories of one's past life, likened to a roadway that one may visit or take a tour of. (Used primarily in the phrase "stroll/take a trip/walk etc. down memory lane.") My grandmother spends more time strolling down memory lane these days than conversing about the present. It was lovely finding our old photo albums and taking a trip down memory lane. To be quite honest, it's growing quite dull doing nothing but strolling down memory lane when I get together with my high school friends.See also: down, lane, memory

down memory lane

Looking back on the past. Often put in a nostalgic way, this term may have originated as the title of a popular song of 1924, “Memory Lane,” words by Bud de Sylva, and music by Larry Spier and Con Conrad. It was revived in the film In Society (1944), starring Abbott and Costello. That is where former movie actor, President Ronald Reagan, may have picked it up; he then used it in his 1984 speech accepting the Republican nomination, “Well, let’s take them [his opponents] on a little stroll down memory lane.”See also: down, lane, memory