Music…

Gimme Some Lovin’

The Best of the Spencer Davis Group

The Spencer Davis Group
and Words

Hey

Well, my temperature’s rising, and my feet on the floor
Crazy people knocking ’cause they’re wanting some more
Let me in, baby, I don’t know what you got
But you better take it easy, this place is hot

And I’m so glad we made it
So glad we made it
Why won’t you gimme some lovin’
Gimme some lovin’
Gimme some lovin’ every day

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.


As I closed my freshman year in high school, my trajectory steadily declined.  No, I sugarcoat it; I steered my future steadily into impending death, like a Kamikaze pilot.  Many high school friends likely don’t remember me from ninth grade, but that’s because I rarely attended.  My algebra teacher once shamed me with, “Mr. Wong, you’re out of school more often than you’re in school.”  Then everything abruptly changed.

One might easily conclude that this occurred between ninth and tenth grade.  It didn’t; it occurred as I took my final on World History.  Entering the final, I had a failing grade.  Our teacher, Mr. Beasley did one last review session, and I paid attention and aced that final.  For years, I struggled to decipher what motivated me to change.  Mrs. Broadwell, my English and Latin teacher, once asked me point blank as she praised me for the change, and I honestly responded with, “I don’t know.”

Music…

The Metro

Pleasure Victim

Berlin
and Words

I’m alone, sitting with my empty glass
My four walls follow me through my past

I was on a Paris train, I emerged in London rain
And you were waiting there, swimming through apologies

I remember searching for the perfect words
I was hoping you might change your mind
I remember a soldier sleeping next to me
Riding on the Metro

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.


Right as I entered high school, music permeated much of my life.  With the launch of MTV just the year before, music not only had the audio element, but also the visual elements.  At times we would finally visualize our favorite bands and put a face to the voice.  Some artists used video exceptionally, like Duran Duran; they were often accused of using sex to sell their product, though never denied it.  Other artists like AC/DC lazily released concert clips; their efforts a merely checkbox in a list of ‘must do’s’.

The video for the single release of ‘The Metro’ launched Berlin’s success and put them on the map.  Terri Nunn’s vocals anchored the group distinctive sound, a combination of synth-pop that was so popular in the 1980’s.  The video pulls you into journey, nay… an adventure, through the European train (“I was on a Paris train”).  While the song painted a picture of European flair; the video crystalized it with cut-scenes that mimicked and array of cities.  Nunn’s voice had a sliver of an accent, which I assumed to be of German descent.

Music…

Something to Say

Fear

Toad the Wet Sprocket
and Words

He’s got a thing ’bout losin’ control
Carries it a mile just to see how far he’ll go

Brushes up his chops as he tries to fake a smile
A friend indeed, but I need someone to stay a while
Someone to stay a while

You can bend my ear
We will talk all day
Just make sure I’m around when you’ve finally got somethin’ to say

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.


About a year after I started at Microsoft, we welcomed a new developer to the team.  Jim’s office sat across the hall from mine, though initially we didn’t work on the same project.  However, we’d chat out in the open from our respective desks.  On one of those early days, he stood at my door as we chatted and looked upon my corkboard.  He marveled about the commemorative Space Shuttle Challenger license plate I had pinned up there, and asked, “How did you get that?”  I explained that I moved from the Miami area, and it was a gift from a friend upon my departure.

Jim confessed that he moved from Florida as well, and that he watched that very same Space Shuttle Challenger explode on his rearview mirror as he drove.  While we didn’t run in any of the same circles in Florida, having a fellow Floridian made me a bit less homesick.  That may have been the very start of our friendship, over 30 years ago.

Continue reading “Living his truth”