In the summer of '84, my Aunt Gerry and her husband, my Uncle "Turk", came to stay with us for two weeks...which JUST so happened to coincide with a new found fondness for slipping out the door and around the house for a puff or twelve. My folks were a known commodity...I was in sync with their schedules, knew their patterns, and 99% of the time no one was the wiser. Gerry, bless her with her white zinc'd nose and terrycloth beach hat, was another story. Her patterns were erratic--one moment she's sunning herself out on the deck, another moment she's mixing whiskey sours. What to make of this? I was forced to wait it out til things settled down. And wait. And wait...
I count some of my finest moments on earth to be those when finally the lights went out and I snuck out into the simmering summer. Alone with the crickets and the fireflies in the purple light...y'know--thinking things over for the first time. I'd have played all these songs waiting for this moment and when slipping back in and returning to the same playlist, they sounded all that much better.
Gerry and Turk are both gone now and yet I think of that summer as the Last Great Summer when I had nothing but time to just...wait...things...out.
Heaven 17 - Let Me Go (Mp3)
Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon (Mp3)
Seona Dancing - More To Lose (Mp3)
Vitamin Z - Burning Flame (Mp3)
Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy (Original 12-inch extended version) (Mp3)
China Crisis - Wishful Thinking (Mp3)
The Style Council - You're The Best Thing (Mp3)
Everything But The Girl - When All's Well (Mp3)
Lotus Eaters - The First Picture Of You (Mp3)
INXS - I Send A Message (Rare Extended Mix) (Mp3)
Depeche Mode - Everything Counts (Mp3)
The Clash - Career Opportunities (Mp3)
The Pale Fountains - From Across The Kitchen Table (Mp3)
Tears For Fears - Watch Me Bleed (Mp3)
The Fixx - Red Skies (Mp3)
6 comments:
Yes, sneaking out for a smoke- those were the days! We too knew our parents' patterns, but still managed to get caught every once in a while (perhaps we made too much noise?). Fortunately, Shamus and my older brother we seen as the bad influences in those instances. Great Weekend Shots songs, btw. Lots of good memories.
Noah
Shamus and Doug bad influences? Never!
I was never a bad influence!
I'm with you Champ, summer of 84 was so damn boss. Readying for college days ahead, partying with friends and a world of possiblities in front of me. Great weekend shots and great memories to go with them.
Cheers - Doug
I never smoked and I never had fireflies in the purple light but after a night's underage drinking at The Weary Ploughman me and Marty would often sneak down to the beach....crashing waves distant at low tide, sleeping beach huts and the fresh nip of bladderwrack weed on barnacled rocks; I took a tape recorder with me once and made him listen to all of 'Desolation Row'in the moonlight.
I like the sound of Gerry & Turk.
what is it with songs called "red skies" at the moment? I've come across 3 good ones in the last week or so.
Pious Lives! -Shamus
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