Today’s music was released in 1966. I was ten years old. Neighborhood kids had this song (and about ten zillion others) on a forty-five. We gathered in their basement in Wilkinsburg, PA, and had dance parties, with the records being played on a little portable record-player.
“Kicks” by Paul Revere and the Raiders, was about drug use, getting sucked into that world, and how it can happen without warning. That’s true about so many things; changes occur under our noses. Our bodies shift. Bad habits led to poor under-lying conditions but we’re oblivious to them until a medical emergency erupts. Same thing can happen to romantic and sexual relationships, friendships, finances, houses, and cars. Those little, sneaking changes are noticed but not noted until they combine into one big fucking change that explodes in your face.
Anyway, “Kicks” came into my musical stream this morning as I was reflecting on last night dreams. There’s one line in the song that says, “You’ll never run away from you, and if you keep on running, you’ll have to pay the price.”
Yeah, you can’t run away from you. It’s a distance too far.
Michael Seidel, writer 
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