Tag: 1980s

Saturday’s Theme Music

Thinking of all the ways we’re being told to stay home or in semi-isolation and seclusion – shelter in place, hunker down, etc. – when the thoughts dredged up an old Joe Cocker song.

“Shelter Me” is from his album, Cocker (1986). That album is known more for “You Can Leave Your Hat On” (written by Randy Newman), which was used in several movies (bet you can think of at least one) (if you’re of a certain age or older). Meanwhile, I’d play the album and grew to like “Shelter Me”, even though it has that late eighties sound that sometimes was over-used (you’ll know what I mean, if you are of a certain age).

But the song’s opening lyrics work for the age of the coronavirus.

This ain’t no place for losers
Or the innocent of mind
It’s a full time job
For anyone, to stay alive
The streets have shallow boundaries
For the war that’s everyone
What a wasteland for
Broken dreams and hired guns
Shelter me, baby shelter me
When I’m sitting like I’m losing ground
Shelter me

h/t to Metrolyrics.com

Okay, they’re not perfect, but I can play off that sense of boundaries – stay six feet away from one another, watch what your touch (don’t touch your face), and wash your hands (properly) – and the wasteland of shopping areas, airports, highways, restaurants, etc, and how some might think we’re losing ground and standing still.

Or maybe I’ve gone for a metaphor too far. Possible.

Anyway, on to the music, and Joe’s voice.

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Today’s Theme Song

I was going to do some Rush today, but my head streamed some other stuff. Geddy Lee did make it as part of the new sound in my head.

It’s from the early 1980s, which was, like, an interesting time, hey? Like, we didn’t have cell phones, and couldn’t take selfies, like people today can do. Being primitive people, we lacked Facebook and other social media, depending on staying connected by calling on land-lines, writing letters, or visiting. CNN had just gotten started, and Fox News was still sixteen years away. I didn’t even have an email account, then. That didn’t matter, as nobody I knew had an account.

Email seemed so futuristic and exciting when I signed up for my first account, with AOL. I remember receiving my first email. It was for a product called Viagra. I thought it was important, because it was addressed to me by name, and said, “URGENT!” in the subject line. None of the links worked, though, because Viagra didn’t exist, yet. That’s how advanced those times where, though.

Here is Bob & Doug McKenzie, of the McKenzie Brothers (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) of SCTV, with Geddy, presenting their fantastic dance hit, “Take Off.”

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Today’s Theme Music

One of my most enjoyable experiences while in the military came during my assignment to Okinawa. I was stationed at Kadena Air Base.

I became good friends with Jeff, who arrived almost at the same time. We were in command and control. Both assigned to the Military Airlift Command for the first time, Jeff had come out of the Strategic Air Command, probably the most intense Air Force command regarding command and control, because they were a large part of the nuclear deterrent triad. So Jeff thought MAC was pretty laid back. Compared to SAC, it was.

Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) ran facilities at Okuma Beach for the military to use. Jeff had two young boys. He would go camping. I would tag along. Sometimes others would go with us. It was great, grilling all weekend, tossing around baseballs, swimming, a wonderfully relaxing time. My wife didn’t like camping, so she didn’t go, declaring, “My idea of roughing it is no mints on the pillows.” The one time she did go, a typhoon was moving in, blowing our tent over while we tried to sleep.

Situated where it was on the island in the East China Sea, Okuma suffered little light pollution. It was great to put down a blanket, look up at the clear, bright stars, listen to the surf and think.

Our music of the time was dominated by Toto IV, an usual rock album that did very well. One frequently planned song was ‘Africa’. 

Here it is.

 

 

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Today’s Theme Music

Look at that light. Smell that air: inhale; exhale.

Smells like the eighties doesn’t it? Yeah, I thought so, too.

Does it ever happen to you, that you wake up refreshed from a delicious night of sleep and you feel so young, that you feel like a different person, that you feel like a younger person?

Yeah, me, neither.

But I awoke thinking about the 1980s. I had a good time in that era. So how ’bout a little Pat Benatar. Let’s go back with her to those days before the Internet captured us.

I choose this song because its beat and pop-culture music craft. Once again, I’d never seen this video before, as with many others I share here, and honestly, watching it, I cringe. But it’s a good song to sing to yourself, walking around or sitting around, gathering strength to do things. Sing to yourself, “We are strong.”

Here is ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ from 1983.

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