During
this unprecedented time, a lot of people might feel that all of their days are blurring
together. Is it Monday? Is it Friday?
Has the idea of wearing morning sweatpants versus evening sweatpants really
become a thing? I am doing my best to mix
up my routine. I am dipping into my vast
collection of t-shirts accumulated over the years and wearing a different one
each day. But there are instances when I
seem to be having a battle with the same ol’, same ol’. I have not gotten to Pittsburgh meteorologist
Phil Connors’ level of repetitive, but I find myself asking if I have seen and
heard this before?
Most
recently, I was stopped in my tracks after hearing the Primitive Radio Gods’ 1996 song, "Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth" on Pittsburgh's
WYEP 91.3 FM in my car on the way to the grocery store and then having it be
the first full song I heard in my destination - Giant Eagle-East Liberty.
I am assuming that Giant Eagle was playing some well curated playlist from
their streaming music for retail stores partnership, not consulting with the
independent radio gods. Why would they
want to mess with one of the few remaining people that still regularly listens
to the radio?
I
am not sleepwalking through these endless days and weeks. And I am sure the songwriters: Chris O'Connor
and Leonard Feather were not trying to stir the pot, but the lyrics carry
weight during COVID-19: “Am I alive or thoughts that drift away? / Does summer
come for everyone? / Can humans do as prophets say? / And if I die before I
learn to speak / Can money pay for all the days I lived awake / But half
asleep?”.
At
a different time in my life, I can also think of a handful of times that I sat
in my apartment in Washington DC and played a handful of songs on repeat. Not sure about the songs being penned in
1992, but the jam, “Taking Us Home” by The Samples from their album, ‘No
Room’ as well as Jeffrey Gaines’ single “Headmasters of Mine” that included the
B-Side cover of Peter Gabriel’s classic “In Your Eyes” were in heavy rotation
on my Aiwa stereo. There was also the 1996
release by the band Satchel (featuring the late vocalist Shawn Smith) which included
the song, “Without Love”.
I
could listen to these songs, over and over and I found comfort in their
familiarity. These days, I have found myself
repeatedly listening to songs both old and new.
My “last” concert before seeing live music in person took a hiatus was Dermot Kennedy. His song, “Rome”, speaks to me with the line,
“All these memories run my mind in slow motion” or Billy Joel’s Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go OutOn Broadway) which
written in 1976 still has an eerie relevance today: “I've seen the lights go out on Broadway / I
saw the mighty skyline fall / The boats were waiting at the battery / The union
went on strike / They never sailed at all…”
Soon
these days will be memories and hopefully they won’t repeat this winter. Thanks for reading.
