Wish You Were Here

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Monday, September 6th, 2021 - 11:22am

My dad loves music. So many of my memories with him are linked with songs, especially from when we were out driving around. Growing up, the vibe in ‘dad’s car’ and the vibe in ‘mom’s car’ were very different. In my mom’s car, we were allowed to listen to the Cabbage Patch Kids cassette on repeat and sing our little hearts out. We’d clamor, “Tell us different ways to sing it!!!” and my mom would happily oblige, saying things like, “Sing it like opera singers! Sing it like you’re under water!” She also had a few faithful tapes, and later CDs, on heavy rotation. The Righteous Brothers, Bonnie Raitt and Bob Seger always make me think of being in the car with my mom.

In my dad’s car, The Cabbage Patch Kids was a no-go. “When you drive the car, you’ll choose the music. For now, I choose the music.” “Daaaad I’m not gonna be old enough to drive a car for like a million years! So unfair! Mom lets us listen to Cabbage Patch Kids! Pfffffffff.”

In the end, though, I’m so glad I had both of those experiences. I absolutely looooved singing along to the Cabbage Patch Kids in the car with my sisters, and still know the words to those songs. And, I also loooove the memories I have of driving around in my dad’s black Chrysler Lebaron, feeling so grown up and cool listening to my dad’s music.

Despite being such a music lover, my dad doesn’t usually sing along. Instead, he says his favorite lyrics, pronouncing them slowly and with meaning, so they stand out and I can hear them. My dad is the one that made me realize that songs could be political, thought-provoking, even make references to movies or pop culture. I started paying attention and listening for the stories behind the songs. I liked to ask my dad, “What’s this one about?”

On at least one occasion, this backfired and I got more than I bargained for. We were cruising around to Rockwell’s 1984 hit “Somebody’s Watching Me.” (You remember it, “oh oh oh, I always feeeel like somebody’s watchin’ meeee.”) My dad totally traumatized me in a Target parking lot with a brief plot summary of the movie “Psycho” as an explanation to part of the lyrics.

Later, I remember being haunted by the knowledge that Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” was about the accidental death of his four-year-old son. I was shocked and amazed that Clapton could keep going, that he could sing his grief and share it with the world.

When I was 11 and Eric Clapton’s MTV Unplugged became a huge success, my dad played me the original 1970s Derek and the Dominos version of “Layla.” He told me the song was about Clapton’s impossible love for his friend George Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd. Whoa...this raw, electric, scream was a love song?! Not only that, but an unrequited love song about George Harrison’s wife! Like, George Harrison! Like of THE BEATLES! Whoa.

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