Lock downs, quarantine, self-distancing, isolation, and every other way you can think of saying “We’re staying inside” is still in effect in many places. Restlessness is grabbing people. They’re suffering urges to hit the road, get their nails done, go bowling, or just stroll the streets and have a drink with friends. Some of them are thinking of escape.
Which brought to mind, “Gimme Three Steps” by Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1973. Bet that’s more than a few out there, thinking, gimme three steps, and I’ll be out the door ‘fore you know it.
Just a simple song from my youth, sparked by random thoughts, “Gee, a road trip would be nice today. Maybe head to the coast, smell the air, listen and watch the waves, experience life as it was, when that was all taken for granted.”
Like a proper theme song, Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On” (1969) began.
For now I smell the rain, and with it pain, and it’s headed my way
Ah, sometimes I grow so tired
But I know I’ve got one thing I got to do
Ramble on, and now’s the time, the time is now
To sing my song, I’m going ’round the world, I gotta find my girl
On my way, I’ve been this way ten years to the day
Ramble on, gotta find the queen of all my dreams
Had a doughnut, thought about having another. The little devil on my shoulder started singing, “Go ahead and do it, do it, do it till you’re satisfied.” Now the 1974 B.T. Express song, “Do It ‘Til You’re Satisfied”, is stuck in my mental stream, distracting me from my writing and pushing me toward eating a second doughnut.
Out yard working yesterday, tidying, clipping, trimming (killing time). I kept thinking, it feels like rain. More than that, it looked like rain might be on the way, and it smelled like rain was out there. It was out there somewhere, but not in my area. The rain never came but a Buddy Guy song (written by John Hiatt), “Feels Like Rain” (with Bonnie Raitt) 1993, slipped into the music stream like morning fog coming into the valley.
A simple, mellow song for this laid-back Tuesday morning. Good tempo for sipping coffee while gazing out the window and drifting the net.
Watched a FB video of a dog. Reading in a car, he seems to attempt to bite cars passing in the opposite direction. Guess it’s a dog car game. I thought, he’s only trying to bite white cars. That introduced blue cars into my thoughts, and then, voila, Dishwalla’s “Counting Blue Cars” (1996) arrived.
Must of been late afternoon
On our way the sun broke free of the clouds
We count only blue cars
Skip the cracks, in the street
And ask many questions
Like children often do
We said,
Tell me all your thoughts on God?
‘Cause I would really like to meet her.
And ask her why we’re who we are.
Tell me all your thoughts on God,
Cause I am on my way to see her.
So tell me am I very far –
Am I very far now?
We slipped out, conducting a night patrol. Basically, we’d read of rumors on the net about certain stores and their hours and how much better it was during those times. The ‘special shopping hours’ are ten to midnight, so we left at 10:11 and cruised down through the parking lots. Who was masked? How many people seemed present? Was it safe? (My wife is sharply risk adverse, as she has RA.)
While out, George Benson’s 1980 song, “Give Me the Night” filled my music stream. It started a medley of Benson songs, but I stayed with this one for the theme music. The lyrics lend to that wonderful night energy that breathes new life into you.
Whenever dark has fallen
You know the spirit of the party
Starts to come alive
Until the day is dawning
You can throw out all your blues
And hit the city lights
‘Cause there’s music in the air
And lots of lovin’ everywhere
So gimme the night
Gimme the night
You need the evening action
A place to dine, a glass of wine
A little late romance
It’s a chain reaction
You’ll see the people of the world
Coming out to dance
‘Cause there’s music in the air
And lots of lovin’ everywhere
So gimme the night
Gimme the night
So come on out tonight
And we’ll lead the others
On a ride through paradise
And if you feel all right
Then we can be lovers
‘Cause I see that starlight
Look in your eyes
Don’t you know we can fly
Back in 1985, I was traveling frequently with the military. Based in South Carolina, I was a frequent visitor to California, Florida, Virginia, and New Jersey. Between them, I spent months in South Korea and Egypt, dashed through Spain, and part of a week in Belgium. This travel all revolved around war readiness planning and exercising.
Somewhere in those travels, I picked up on a song called “Live is Life”. I’d heard the song but didn’t know who did it. It didn’t seem to have much playtime in America. Eventually I hunted it down and discovered it was by Opus, from Austria.
Anyway, as I adjusted to today’s limited agenda and travel plans and admired spring’s growing presence outside, the song returned to me. It’s a jaunty song without deep lyrics, kind of odd as a rock song — more pop than rock –but it’s easy to sing.
Looking out, sipping coffee, I questioned myself, seeking the day and date. Wow, the sixteenth, half of April is already gone. Thursday again, already? It seemed like we just had one. Pretty soon, it’ll be the weekend all over again.
The weekend doesn’t have much true meaning for me. Military existence as a shift worker made them moot. When I joined management, it changed, and I kind of got the hang of it, mostly due to my wife saying, “It’s the weekend. We should do something.”
Everyone seemed to have a mindset around the weekend – do something, or do nothing. Meanwhile, since dropping out of the employment world to enter the sinister world of being a novelist, I’ve drifted back out of the weekend thing. Everyday is for writing in my world, but I still clash with the rest of the world and its idea of the weekend (along with those pesky interruptions called ‘holidays’).
Weirdly, out of all this, the song by the Killers, “Human” (2008), splashed into my thought stream.
I’ve done this song before, but it just fits so well to these times, when people are social-distancing and can’t go anywhere.
‘Cause I’m stuck in the middle with you
And I’m wondering what it is I should do.
It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face.
Losing control and running all over the place.
Clowns to the left of me!
Jokers to the right!
Here I am stuck in the middle with you.
It can apply to being at home with your, ahem, loved ones (or their reaction to you), or the cat’s reaction to your continual presence. Or there you are in a store, trying to maintain safe distance while you re-supply, all masked, while an idiot behind you ignores it all.
It can even be political, if you think that these are special times which require special leadership, that sadly, you perceive we might be lacking…
Here’s Stealer Wheels with “Stuck in the Middle with You”, from 1973.
Michael Seidel, writer 