Sometimes a song comes to you. I wonder if they’re like food cravings, coming to you to fill a need you feel. Maybe they’re just reflections of states of mind, a mirror on the present, and a glance back at the past.
Today’s song was written and released by one of my all-time preferences, Bob Seger. Most of us have used that expression in retrospect about something or someone, saying, “Even now, I’d go to them, if I could.” “Even now, after all we went through, I still miss them.” Bob was always good about writing about relationships, looking back at them, and wondering.
That’s what this one is all about. I don’t have any suspicions ’bout why I’m streaming it in my head. Sometimes a song just comes to you.
I was checking the weather – it’s thirty-eight F right now, suny and clear – when I noticed the neighbors. Monday has begun. The weekend is over. Elementary and high school students walk down to catch buses or walk to school. The college students leave next. Neighbors drive off to work. Each departs at the same times Monday through Friday, except for Holidays.
The slow but regular daily exodus reminds me of the 1982 Loverboy song, “Working for the Weekend”. Loverboy was a hot flash in the early 1980s, coming out of Canada to storm the world with a number of hits. I was living on Okinawa, and I can tell you, they were very popular in the music clubs there. It has that eighties techno-rock sound to me.
Anyway, from the looks on the faces most people had today, most looked like they were sighing and trudging. They seemed more energetic last weekend.
I inadvertently type this post’s title as ‘Sunday’s Dream Music’. Last night was a dreams-on-parade night, with at least three vividly remembered dream. One most remembered moment had my wife and I leave the military service. We were following a friend. He took off and we got lost. Making a wrong turn, we entered a hot area of sandstone caves.
First, I had written about sandstone caves in my novel earlier in the week, so its dream presence intrigued me. Meanwhile, as my wife and I walked among the sandstone caves, I was saying, “I don’t think this is the right place. We took a wrong turn somewhere.”
Others were with us. They stopped to talk while I scouted ahead. As I did, I saw a huge cougar entering a sandstone cave. Hastening back, I got my wife’s attention and gestured her forward. Whispering, I said, “There’s a cougar up ahead. It went into that cave.” Pointing, I went on, “We’re definitely on the wrong track.” As I did, the cougar walked out of the cave, prowled around for a second, and then turned and continued.
We backtracked to a highway. As soon as we reached the highway, I saw a large shopping center. “I think that’s where we need to go,” I said, and led on. Yes, I found the store where my friend had gone, a Giant Eagle Supermarket. From a cougar to a giant eagle. That cracked me up today as I reflected on the dreams.
Once I’d thought about the dreams for a time and started doing other things, my stream delivered Madonna’s 1987 hit about love, dreaming, and sleeping, “La Isla Bonita”.
Today’s little ditty was released by a small, unknown band came out in 1981. It had some small chart success in America and maybe a few other places in the world. You may have heard it because presidential candidates like using it, as do professional sports teams and television networks. I think it might have been in an obscure television show called The Sopranos. For reasons that defy easy tracking and explaining, my mind used it as my wake-up music.
Here’s Journey with “Don’t Stop Believin'”. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
I don’t know what triggered what filters on my mental streams this morning to be streaming this song. Dreams? Yes, I had several vivid dreams that I recall. Stress? Don’t think so as I don’t seem stressed today. Cats, food, mineral deficiency, too much of a mineral or vitamin?
I don’t know. The human body is a mysterious beast without a decent, modern diagnostics button. Something may have mis-fired, or it all worked exactly as planned. Either way, I’m now streaming “Lovefool” by the Cardigans (1996) on an infinite loop. Posting about it usually stops the loop, so…here we are.
Something mellow popped into my head yesterday. I’d finished some yardwork and was enjoying the warm late afternoon air. The temperature, sunlight, humidity, and silence combined into a rarefied sense of relaxation. “Groovin'”, the Rascals’ hit from 1967, began wending through my memory stream.
Thinking about the song reminded me of an incorrect lyric where people sang, “Life would be ecstasy, you and me and Leslie.” Everyone wondered, “Who is Leslie?” Leslie was “endlessly” misheard as Leslie. It’s a fun mondegreen, innit? I like singing Leslie instead of endlessly because it makes me laugh inside. Yes, I’m a simple-minded guy.
Hope you soon have some sunshine and time to relax and do some groovin’. If you’re not sure how to groove, I can’t help you. I think it’s something that you need to grok.
“Smile Like You Mean It” by the Killers was released in 2005. I always took it as a song about putting on a brave face when you run into the ex or something goes wrong. We have so many other expressions to cover it, like don’t let them see you cry, never show weakness, and never let them see that you’re hurt. That’s pretty much how I was raised, to keep pain private, to always be tough and strong. Part of that seemed to be all about being manly, but it was also about not letting others take advantage of you through a perceived weakness.
I’m picking up good vibrations today. Spring has sprung. Tulips and daffs are fading, shedding, and drooping (sounds like I’m talking about my hair and body), but the rest of our area is richly green. Trees are coming into their fullness.
The vibrations could be coming from my coffee, though. Its rich smell triggers a wonderful vibration deep in my nethers. The taste accentuates it, and then, when that caffeine arrives, it’s like, take it home, baby.
Or, it could be the productive results of a good night of rest, some wild and interesting dreams, a pleasant morning work-out, or a contact air from the neighbors smoking some early morning marijuana.
There’s a good chance that it’s all these things. Whatev, the Beach Boys’ 1966 hit, “Good Vibrations”, immediately piled into the stream. Absolutely one of my favorite songs, I enjoy it for the multiple changes, the theremin’s use, the quick but delicate bass line, the harmonies, and the lyrics. It came out when I was ten years old as well, so I float back into some finer times when the melody is in my stream.
To begin, today’s song has an interesting video associated with it. Beginning with a clothed woman under water in the bathtub and held down by a breezeblock, you think, what? Then everything goes backwards, and the story is revealed, and it’s not what was expected.
The song hooked into my stream because the stream is fond of repetitive lyrics. The song’s final words go,
Heard this one on the satellite radio yesterday. Memory gates crashed open when I did.
Chicago released “Color My World” in 1970. The slow ballad was an instant hit at school dances because it was a modern song, sloppy and sentimental, but with a slow tempo. That made it a perfect slow-dance song. Slow dancing was important to me as a fourteen year old. One, I could dance with girls to it. Two, I could dance with girls to it.
The song’s author and vocalist, Terry Kath, died just eight years after this song was released. He was also Chicago’s lead guitarist. His extended solo on “25 or 6 to 4” mesmerized me when it was first released, and I still enjoy it.
Michael Seidel, writer 