This evening I went to get Chinese take-out - as my wife was not feeling too well, and didn't feel like making supper. After placing my order, I sat at one of the tables - put there for those who decide to stay and eat-in. This restaurant is a nice one... modern, well lit - and most of its' business, I suspect is from their delivery service.
Anyway, I was sitting there... lost in my thoughts... listening to the music that they have piped in. Muzac? No... I believe it is satellite radio. Some easy listening music - with a chinese theme. Nice relaxing, and quiet music.
Then a tune came on. It wasn't by the artist that I had originally heard play it... but was similar enough that I knew the next note that would be played. A haunting melody... the main instrument was a trumpet - played forlornly slow. Long drawn out notes on a trumpet. My eyes watered a bit.
The tune took me back 31 years. All of a sudden I was in 1977 - in Burnet, TX - working at a radio station. I was a JW - single - all alone. I had made a cassette tape of some 33-1/3 RPM albums, to listen to on my cassette player in my 1972 blue VW beetle.
The KH I attended in podunk Marble Falls had a few nice young gals... but none that would give me the time of day, so most of my evenings were spent alone. I did a lot of exploring around that area... and found Park Road 4. A two lane narrow road that was very winding and hilly.
One evening - lonely - I drove out Park Road 4 - with a soda and my tape player. About a mile or two down it, I stopped. I got out and hit the 'play' button on my cassette player. This song played. So lonely and forlorn it was. The night was dark - no clouds in the sky... the moon was full - lighting up the countryside.
I stood there... maybe for 5 or so minutes... taking in the surroundings... listening to my music. Then I got back into my car and left.
I do not know what the name of the tune is... or the artist. I wish I did. For some reason, it reminds me of BladeRunner... the movie with Harrison Ford. A scene where they are sitting there... the rain falling. Quiet rain.
It's funny how these things affect me. All the way home - with my chinese food... I was very melancholy... driving as if in a dream.
When I walked in the door my wife must have noticed something... she asked 'What's wrong?' At that point I think I came back to earth... 2008. 'Nothing', I replied.
I can still hear the music in my head. A haunting melody.
Regards,
Jim TX
Interesting how music can make you go back in time...
by Jim_TX 7 Replies latest jw friends
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Jim_TX
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John Doe
Your post reminds me of that Ernest Hemingway short story. http://www.mrbauld.com/hemclean.html
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Casper
Wow Jim, that's an amazing post. Sounds like you really went back in time there for a moment...
The only thing I can relate to that is, every time I hear the song... "Let Your Love Flow" By: Bellamy Brothers. I am in a sense, transported back to 1982, driving down a country road on my way to a party. That song was blaring on the radio, and I was alone.
Only that short span of time is associated with the song...
I've heard it hundreds of times over the years, but just that one memory pops into my head every time...clear as a bell.
Seems odd.
Cas
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Mickey mouse
Music is an amazing gift.
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Hope4Others
I think it has just been one of those kind of weeks. Perhaps the announcement
thing has made some of us go back in time, don't you think?
hope4others -
Jim_TX
"Perhaps the announcement thing has made some of us go back in time, don't you think?"
Naw... I have been out of the JW thing for about 25 years now. I don't think that had anything to do with it at all.
Like the other poster mentioned... certain songs bring back certain memories. There is another song that trips me back to another time... when I first held hands with the ex-wife - roller skating, etc. Afterwards - whenever I heard that song - it would trigger that memory (and still does). Funny thing is - it didn't have the same effect on the ex-wife.
Regards,
Jim TX -
Open mind
"Music is humanity's most sophisticated form of communication."
(One of my kid's music teachers.)
A little biased perhaps, but I agree.
Great post Jim. Thanks for sharing it.
OM
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WTWizard
I wonder if that's why the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger warns against "period tapes". They might take you back to a time before you were a witless, and wake up a few brain cells. They also warn against the oldies for the same reason.
One more reason why they hated it when I had tape collections made off CDs of '70s music. It can take me to a time before I became a witless. Music from the early and mid '80s can do the same thing.