Blackboard Jungle

Am I going through an "End of Life" crisis? At my age it isn't a mid life crisis. I left that years ago.

It's not the Lolita complex. That ended when Putin took over Russia. Frankly I don't know what's happening to me. But something really important....

This song is running through my head https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l0fH0dRUow Harry Chapin's W.O.L.D. I bought the single in the 70's (don't ask me what year). 40 years on. Don't ask what it means, it just is what I was in the 70's. But all the stuff I listened to was like this.

Albert Hammond's " Free Electric Band" . There I was on my way to work and I went into a record store and they were playing Billy Joel's "Piano Man" . It said everything about me in the early '70's - sad, uncertain and lost. Then I heard Elton's Rocket Man - it was me. Lonely, yearning, lost in space.

I'd go to my bed-sit in Belsize Park and play these on my Trio deck, through my Trio tuner/amp and a pair of second hand Goodman speakers. "American Pie" would resonate and I'd play Roxy Music's "Street Life" until my ears hurt. And I'd get really groovy with the Average White Band.   Fun and funky.

Into the '80's, I'd still feel pretty depressed about things generally. "Vienna" summed it up. Thatcher, spies and uncertainty, and ..sophistication,danger and drama. I needed that. Yazoo said it all as did the Communards "Don't Leave Me this Way". The 80's were a trial  for me and as it died I moved into mid life but.. the Only Way Is Up kicked all that nonsense into touch.

The 90's saw me re-generated Spock like. It took me a while but I found myself listening to songs that reinvigorated me. "Teen Spirit" could be a middle age anthem. Headbanging, heavy drum and lyrics that wern't a problem to us with hearing impairment. The video clearly had something to do with its attraction.  I liked Brit Pop,but not Tony Blair. "What's the Story (Morning Glory)" passed me by but not this. 

And then in the late 90's  I found myself listening  to Korn  and System of a Down . Why?? Simple, the music made me feel alive. As did this by Bloodhound Gang

And into the 2000's. There I was back into the 60's and 70's. Dylan "Blood on the Tracks"  and The Four Tops.

So why is W.O.L.D. in my head now? Simple. It's a fucking good song as are all the others that have tracked my adult life. Simple. Just spin the disc.