Hold Me Closer Tiny Dancer
Today has to be one of the saddest days of my life. I just watched Elton John perform on Oprah. Look, I know he’s getting old…and I don’t expect him to go into seclusion like Garbo…but please…don’t try to sing when you can’t sing any longer. Let me live with my memories! “Your Song,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Bennie and the Jets,” “Crocodile Rock,” those are songs that conjure up flashbacks of beer bombs on the mountain…white Bonnie Bell pineapple scented lipstick…pale lilac and eggshell blue nail polish…wedge leather sandals…and your music blaring from the 8 track tape deck firmly installed (compliments of my brother) in the console of my ’73 Firebird! Don’t sing and take those memories away from me!!!
You see, when you hear a certain song… your youth comes rushing back. Every time I hear the BeeGee’s “To Love Somebody,” I’m transformed back to the homecoming dance my sophomore year…with Jeff…whose Brut cologne was so strong that my eyes stung and teared up. (Fortunately, he thought I was just overly emotional by the ambiance of the evening and never knew I was about two minutes away from throwing up. )
Alive N Kickin’s “Tighter and Tighter”…that’s the song that takes me back to Albertson’s swimming pool…where you paid 50 cents to stay all day…and drink Tahitian Punch and sashay up and down the sides of the pool hoping a senior, preferably a senior from another high school, noticed you. If I’m not mistaken…that song was B6 on the jukebox.
Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”…that’s the song that my brother pumped out on the stereo…twenty four hours a day (well…until Daddy came home from work). Every time I hear that song I transgress to a 15 year old…sitting cross-legged outside the living room door, hiding…yet straining to watch Milt as he closed his eyes and soaked that song up. To be honest…I never did understand that song…nor Iron Butterfly…nor Milt (until many years later.)
“One Bad Apple”…that is my memory for Johnny. “It’s Too Late Baby”…that’s my memory for Jimmy. Barry White, “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baby”….well that song conjures up memories of Richard. (I always turn that song off, immediately, whenever it plays on the radio or TV. ..‘nuff said.)
But song’s bring back memories…..and they can erase time so quickly! And…I want to remember being in love with Paul McCartney and Pete Maravich and Joe Namath. I want to remember how my heart pounded and my breath quickened the first time Jim took my hand…at the exact moment I first heard “Your Song.” I want to hear those songs and feel those memories as if they were yesterday. I do not want to see Elton at 60+ years strain to sing. I don’t want to see Paul McCartney as a graying Grandfather. I don’t want to see Rod Stewart have to hold onto the mic for support so he doesn’t stumble and fall. NO…NO…NO!!! Because…if my idols are old…then I’m old…and I’m not old...at least I’m not old when I hear “Bennie and the Jets.”
And Sir Elton, I could not have said it better. ..”Hey kids plug into the faithless, maybe they're blinded but Bennie makes them ageless.” Ageless I am…every time that song plays...
You see, when you hear a certain song… your youth comes rushing back. Every time I hear the BeeGee’s “To Love Somebody,” I’m transformed back to the homecoming dance my sophomore year…with Jeff…whose Brut cologne was so strong that my eyes stung and teared up. (Fortunately, he thought I was just overly emotional by the ambiance of the evening and never knew I was about two minutes away from throwing up. )
Alive N Kickin’s “Tighter and Tighter”…that’s the song that takes me back to Albertson’s swimming pool…where you paid 50 cents to stay all day…and drink Tahitian Punch and sashay up and down the sides of the pool hoping a senior, preferably a senior from another high school, noticed you. If I’m not mistaken…that song was B6 on the jukebox.
Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”…that’s the song that my brother pumped out on the stereo…twenty four hours a day (well…until Daddy came home from work). Every time I hear that song I transgress to a 15 year old…sitting cross-legged outside the living room door, hiding…yet straining to watch Milt as he closed his eyes and soaked that song up. To be honest…I never did understand that song…nor Iron Butterfly…nor Milt (until many years later.)
“One Bad Apple”…that is my memory for Johnny. “It’s Too Late Baby”…that’s my memory for Jimmy. Barry White, “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baby”….well that song conjures up memories of Richard. (I always turn that song off, immediately, whenever it plays on the radio or TV. ..‘nuff said.)
But song’s bring back memories…..and they can erase time so quickly! And…I want to remember being in love with Paul McCartney and Pete Maravich and Joe Namath. I want to remember how my heart pounded and my breath quickened the first time Jim took my hand…at the exact moment I first heard “Your Song.” I want to hear those songs and feel those memories as if they were yesterday. I do not want to see Elton at 60+ years strain to sing. I don’t want to see Paul McCartney as a graying Grandfather. I don’t want to see Rod Stewart have to hold onto the mic for support so he doesn’t stumble and fall. NO…NO…NO!!! Because…if my idols are old…then I’m old…and I’m not old...at least I’m not old when I hear “Bennie and the Jets.”
And Sir Elton, I could not have said it better. ..”Hey kids plug into the faithless, maybe they're blinded but Bennie makes them ageless.” Ageless I am…every time that song plays...
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