The summer afternoon was getting on. Whit’s boat engine purred. This was two days ago. Wind blew on our faces, all six of us, the fellas, well lubricated by the beverages poured at Paradise Island, the most undiscovered oasis of bliss in America.
A day out at sea, together, dudes: Dickie, Whit, Wolfford, Snorty, Head and Sportface. Then, this tune on the boat loudspeaker, sent the day into the Heavens: “Thunder Road.” If there’s a better song ever made, I’m unaware of it.
Took us back to the early 1980s, our late teens and early 20s, when The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, changed the world of music forever, stirred our souls, made us wonder what to do with our lives. Bruce often suggested we run away, get the hell out of whatever bad situation or place we were currently in. Bruce told us running away was a viable option and we believed him. He was right.
If I could stop time forever when that song played on that boat two days ago, I would. And just take a picture and say “this is a great moment.” Let that be. Stop time. Appreciate that situation and song and the sea air.
The song ended. So we went with another one, “Superfreak” by Rick James. Probably the biggest hit of the early 1980s rocked to on college campuses across America a few hundred million times or so. It was THE song that got everybody up on the dance floor. A genius riff never to be duplicated.
Then, of course, we pumped Squeeze’s “Goodbye Girl.” We talked about Squeeze and how big they were in the early 80s. While listening to that song on the boat we were taken right back to when we were 20 or so years old without a clue what we were going to do with our lives and mostly interested in girls and wondering why Squeeze made song about saying goodbye to one.
We wanted love. Squeeze’s song was about not getting love. So we remember.
There is nothing better than being old enough to be able to listen to old songs with old friends and appreciate the music together and realize that whatever we did with our lives we had made it through to be on that boat two days ago.
We had done what we did and we were now older. So much we went through: jobs, marriages, kids, all of it.
It is later in life now. Somehow Thunder Road resonates more than ever. We went out and looked for a better life Bruce wrote about and somehow found it, or maybe we didn’t, but we at least had that song to listen on the boat on Saturday, and for that we were fortunate.
For that moment, together.
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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