Tag: memories

Wednesday’s Theme Music

I think I dreamed I was a woman last night. It was a modern dream, and I seemed to be in a competition, not like Miss U.S.A. or anything, i.e., a beauty pageant, but some game.

I use a lot of qualifiers because not much is clearly remembered. Out of this disjointed morass and the sense that “I have a feeling” came the song, “Hooked On A Feeling”.

The B.J. Thomas (yes, of “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” fame) version came out in 1968, when I was twelve. It didn’t do much for this boy but had sufficient air time and exposure that I learned all of its nuances and words. I prefer the Blue Swede version that came out in 1974 (year I graduated high school) and its “oga-chukka, oga, oga” beginning.

Yeah, silly.

I included both version for your convenience. I admit, B.J. had a great voice, and the sitar opening is intriguing, but that oga, oga…come on.

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Saturday’s Theme Song

Talking to the cats and feeling good. World is warming back up to thirty outside our window. Snow on the ground has gained an icy veneer. “All that’s okay, but the wind,” the cats say, “listen to that wind. Feel that wind. We don’t like the wind.”

“You’re alright, floofdudes. The wind is outside and you’re inside.”

“You sure? Because listen to those hisses, whispers, and howls.”

“Yep, we’re okay? Feel the heat? Have a treat. Don’t you worry ’bout a thing.”

And there it was, Steve Wonder’s lovely reminder, “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing” (1974), a perfect song to release some tensions by singing aloud and dancing with your floofs.

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Friday’s Theme Music

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. Good friends, casual friends, and new friends were there.

During one point in the evening, I remarked, “Times are changed, times are strange.” Then I thought, wait a minute, those are song lyrics? What’s the song?

The song noodled in and out of my thinking stream through dinner and into after-dinner conversation until, eureka, yes, that’s from Ozzy Osbourne, “Mama, I’m Coming Home” (1991). After remembering that, the song stayed in my head through the night and into the morning.

So, here it is. I could be right, I could be wrong, but I think this is a good Friday theme song.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

It’s Thanksgiving in the United States today, a holiday imbued with myths and traditions, and many memories for someone like me.

I have some wonderful Thanksgiving memories. Mom worked hard to make holidays a success — except Mother’s Day (yeah, d’uh, she took the day off, didn’t she?) — and Thanksgiving was always terrific at her house. Later, in the military, my wife took on the same role. Overseas, she coordinated and orchestrated Thanksgiving dinner among several families, and we always invited the single people to come over so they felt less alone.

I benefited from that, too. My Uncle and his family had me over for Thanksgiving when I was in basic training, saving me from a chowhall dinner. I had a great time with them. There were other Thanksgivings with co-workers’ families a few times when I was stationed overseas on temporary unaccompanied duty, like the time with Tony’s family in the Philippines. There were also a couple chowhall Thanksgivings, though.

All that brought the Alan Parsons Project song, “Time” (1981). It came out the year that we reported for duty in Germany. We lived off based that first year, and it was one of the times when it was just my wife and I. It was still memorable.

Why “Time”? Because of the lines, “But time keeps flowing like a river, to the sea.”

Yep, although it does make me think, there’s a sea of time out there, somewhere.

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Snow Memories

As an adult, snow and I share a difficult relationship. Snow wants to do what it’ll do, and I prefer that it doesn’t disturb my routines. I think these things even knowing that snow is necessary for the snowpack that provides us water throughout the year (so go up in the mountains and snow heavy there, right?) and some of our local industries (like the ski lodge on Mount Ashland) depends on the snow.

But a day of blinding, fat flurries (like today — look out that window — how can you not?) always takes me back to snow memories, especially childish times. When I was a boy in school, seeing snow outside the windows was a harbinger of entertaining times like snowball fights, forts, and sledding. Snow diffused daylight, blending night and day into a special, secret zone of being. Snow muffled the sounds and tamped adult activities, leaving the world to us, the brave, the crazy, the children. Interruptions would arrive – cars stuck on hills, tires spinning in a whining hiss, vehicles with chains clanging past, snowplows grinding by, building new boundaries of small mountains alongside the roads.

Après outings were coming into a warm house where boots, mittens, and layers of frozen soaked clothes were shed. All had to be hung, put onto radiators or into dryers, depending on the era and house. Hot chocolate with marshmallows and cookies were offered, or tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches (white bread and American cheese, in those days) with a dill pickle.

Evening would come with a hesitant stillness, slipping in like it didn’t want to disturb the world. Books were read, drawings were completed, games played, television watched. Popcorn and fudge was made. The television was watched for news — would there be more snow? Will school be cancelled tomorrow? (Fingers crossed, breath held, eyes big as the news was awaited.) And more gazing out the window, at the amazing white world and the wonders of snow, were indulged.

Young and innocent, protected and secure, playful and happy. Everyone should enjoy such a life.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Looking at the stars last night on a beautifully clear night, I thought of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” (1972). Love this video of David and his band – look at that fine young dude.

Good times.

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Friday’s Theme Music

I’m afraid today’s music is another one that just snuck into the stream and refuses to depart. I don’t know why it came in – I was cleaning the kitchen at the time and planning my day.

“Rosanna” by Toto isn’t a bad song at all. I got to know it and all of Toto IV (1982) intimately. I was stationed at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Japan, at the time. My best bud, Jeff, loved the Toto IV album. The harmonies enthralled him. We used to go camping up at Okuma, where the military had a recreation area, and Toto IV with “Rosanna” was always played a few times a day.

Good ol’ Jeff. Fun, smart guy. Haven’t heard from or about him in decades.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

I was walking toward my writing location today, a coffee shop owned by others, yes, but it’s my usual place, and thinking about what I was going to write. Boom days have continued, which is always a pleasure. So I told myself to just keep chugging along.

Then I plugged that into an old standard, “I just keep chugging along, singing my song, side by side.” Well, naturally, that prompted me to remember the song, “Side By Side” into my stream. Coming out before my Mom was born, leave off me, it’s one of those songs that’ve been part of the national consciousness for decades. There’s no doubt that I know it from my mother singing it, sometimes to me, sometimes to herself, and sometimes as it played on the record player.

The song’s real lyrics vary from cover to cover, but travel is almost always used, not chug, and not plug, but I like to plug in chug and plug instead of travel. The lyrics often go, “We’ll travel along, singing our song, side by side.” Of course, it was just me and my muses, and no one else beside me when I chug along, unless you count my shadow.

But “Me and My Shadow” is another song altogether.

Here is Patsy Cline with her cover of the 1927 song, “Side By Side”.

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Today’s song penetrated the stream with no obvious reason. No memories or brain cells are standing up to say, “I did it. It was me.” Investigations and research have ended with no solid leads.

The song came out in 1961. I was five. Don’t know if I heard it that year, but I’ve heard it a buncha times later. You probably know it, too. It’s still in my head, and I need to get it out, so I’m foisting it on others.

Here’s Del Shannon with “Runaway”.

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Monday’s Theme Music

I was standing in my grass in my bare feet, breathing the morning air, looking around and remembering my dream. A shaft of sunshine found me, or I found it. I called the cat, Meep, aka the Ginger Prince, ‘real name’ Papi, and he came up and over the fence, flying at me with heroic music. I was thinking about change still, so some of the lyrics to “Change” by Blind Melon (1992) chugged into the stream.

And when you feel life ain’t worth living
You’ve got to stand up, and take a look around
And you look up, way to the sky
And when your deepest thoughts are broken
Keep on dreamin’, boy
‘Cause when you stop dreamin’, it’s time to die

h/t to Genius.com

I remembered the words well enough but like copying and pasting lyrics sites like Genius.com to get them correct. I continue dreaming in the nocturnal sense and the hopeful sense of pursuing goals. I’m always looking at the sky.

I don’t have any broken dreams, just dreams refined and postponed. I feel that I should note that Shannon Hoon, who wrote and sang “Change” passed away from a drug overdose when he was 28, just as they found greater success. The song was released well before his death, but I listen to it differently after he died.

Cheers

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