by Randoid
Nearly everyone I know has an appreciation for music. And, as we travel through life, music, primarily popular music, can be a bookmark in time for us. I know it is for me. Sometimes, when I hear a song on “classic rock” radio or through a random play list on a home stereo system I am instantly transported to another time and place. I can think of many songs that are stamped with memories associated with people, places, and events of the day. It seems as though this is true for most people. In a way, music can become our life story. Here’s a story that comes to mind whenever I hear a certain song.
I had just turned 20 years old when I was assigned to an Air Force base located on the outskirts of London. It was my first trip outside the US and I absolutely loved it. I was fascinated with London and I spent a great deal of time exploring the city on my own. The extensive Underground train system allowed me to go practically anywhere in the city in a matter of minutes. In these days however, it did have its drawbacks – the trains shut down around midnight and resumed running about 5 or 6 AM.
On Friday or Saturday night, I would go pubbing and, on occasion, I’d miss the last train home to my base on purpose. I hung out at a German bierkeller located in the Bayswater area of London and I made a lot of friends there. Sometimes I would “crash” at a friend’s flat. And other times I’d prefer to simply walk the streets of London until the trains ran again in the early morning. Bayswater was a particular hangout for me but I also spent a great deal of time in the Piccadilly and Soho area. I knew some people who ran a nightclub in the Soho area, mainly through my activities in a low-level black market operation, but that’s another story. Most of the London clubs would close to the general public at closing time, around 11 PM, at which time you could join the club for a few bob and continue partying behind closed doors. As a result, I joined several clubs in Soho.
One night as I wandered in Soho I passed a dark alley, and noticed a lighted doorway. Ah, I thought, another club! At this point in my life I was totally fearless. Of course, my total lack of fear was based on the fact that I was too young and too stupid to be afraid. Here I was, comfortably drunk in a strange dark alleyway at 1 AM in a foreign city, but I was 20 years old and couldn’t imagine anything bad (or bizarre) happening to me. So, without hesitation, I went in the door.
Most of the clubs that I was familiar with were open, well-lighted places. Not this one. This club was dimly lit with heavy, dark fabric on the walls. Small tables sat next to plush loveseats scattered in nooks and crannies. An attractive looking gal wearing too much makeup greeted me at the door and soon we were snuggled closely together on one of the loveseats. I ordered a beer and, out of nowhere, a glass of champagne magically appeared for her. Her hand slid to my crotch as she ordered another glass of champagne. As we were getting real cozy the bar bill arrived and damn! It was just about all the money I had! I got up abruptly and beat a hasty retreat to the door. My girl protested but I explained that I had no more money. I guess she understood because she lost complete interest in me.
Sometime later I heard the Kinks “Lola” for the first time. As I heard Ray Davies sing about “a club in old Soho” where he met a gal “who drank champagne that taste just like cherry cola” and “her name was Lola” and that “I’m a man and so is Lola,” I couldn’t help but wonder. Was the gal who grabbed my crotch in that alleyway club in Soho a, a, a . . . . . . guy!? Who knows! Anyway, every time I hear “Lola” (and I’ve sung it a couple of times in Karaoke, too) I think of that club in the Soho alley and a naïve 20-year old.
Are there any songs that you associate with memorable moments in your life? Care to share?
Randoid is a staff writer for Robbinsense
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Wow, you WERE young and stupid! Amazing that you made it this far....
ReplyDeleteYes, a most vivid memory for me was being in Africa, central Kenya to be exact, when I was young and stupid. (I wonder if that is a requirement for melding memories and music?) I was hiking with a group in Samburu, a national park with lots of wild animals. Late one night, I hiked out of the camp with a friend, up a hill to some rocks. We lay down and looked at the amazing stars - no cities around to spoil the darkness or the quiet. My friend had a walkman or something like that to play music (no ipods then). I'll never forget listening to CSNY sing 'Southern Cross' while looking up at the equatorial night stars. Still brings a tear to my eye...
Yes,very interesting. I imagine most feel the same way that you do. However for me, aside from song that I used to perform when in a garage band during the 70s, when I hear old songs I get a "feeling" from it. Usually it radiates from somewhere between by gut and heart.
ReplyDeleteLong story...sorry.
ReplyDeleteI was a young girl the first time away from home, at Camp Egypt Valley, a Girl Scout Camp in the forest near Canandaigua, NY. Oh, I learned so many things in those 4 weeks.
I learned that if you are CERTAIN you don't like split-pea soup (even though you never tasted it before), you can dump it onto the ground under the picnic table, and the counsellors will think you ate it all up! I learned that I was GOOD at archery naturally, and could hit the center of the target consistently.
I learned that hot cornbread fresh from the ovens after a day of hiking was manna from heaven. I learned that if you have a mouth full of saltines, you cannot whistle, but you CAN spit, and I learned that the teen-aged girls who were our counsellors actually LIKED teen-aged boys!
The biggest lesson: I shared a cabin with 9 other girls. We were all about 10 years old. We elected one girl to be our "patrol leader" for each cabin. Ours was a girl from Palmyra named Dawn.
Dawn was a nice enough girl, but very gossipy and bossy. One day, she and 2 other girls were caught by the counsellors reading MY DIARY, which they stole from my locker. Her punishment? She had to hand over the Patrol Leader Braids to me.
Now, I was happy enough to be the Patrol Leader. Heady with power. Loving the adulation. Everyone else was very nice to me, and said I deserved it more anyway. Dawn was very apologetic. Seems her elder sister taught her the diary-reading trick, and she said she did not "know" it was wrong. OK, so I believed her...
I went to the Patrol Leader meeting that evening. Every girl in that room had EARNED her Patrol Leader status by being elected after Day 7 of Camp. Except me. I was there for about 10 minutes, when I suddenly walked up to the Camp Matron and said, "I don't want to be Patrol Leader. I didn't earn it. Dawn did."
The astonished Matron smiled at me, told me that maybe I had learned the lesson that Dawn was intended for Dawn. She asked me to do what I thought was right. I went back to my cabin, gave the Braids to Dawn, and we both returned to the meeting. Dawn somehow suddenly "got it" and asked me to forgive her. She knew what she had done was mean and wrong. We hugged.
We still keep in touch to this day - we found each other again several years ago via the internet.
Now for the song part: On the last Friday night of Camp, there was a party that included the Boy Scout Camp nearby. Music was playing. "Dawn" by the Four Seasons. Some girls started to sing "Dawn, go away you're no good for me." She was still pretty bossy, and many girls didn't like that.
But our little cabin stood up and hugged her, and we all danced together. We were all VERY good pals by then. It was then I learned that FRIENDS could become FAMILY. So now when I hear "Dawn", I get all warm inside thinking about all the friends I have had in my life who have become closer to me than family. It's a very good feeling!
A side note: The girl counsellors got all excited when "Paperback Writer" was played, (it was a new release that summer) and chased down the boy counsellors to dance with. I never heard the song before, and to this day, I hear what I thought was "Paperbag Rider" and get all nostolgic about my first glimpse of Teenage Romance. Yeah. THAT is the big '60s romance song for me. Ironic - since it is the song Paul wrote to prove that he could write about something OTHER that boy-girl relationships. Weird.