There was a time before we were born
The month in high school after I bought Popular Favorites 1976-1992: Sand In The Vaseline, the Talking Heads’ new 2-disc great hits collection, was possibly the first and only time in my teenage life when I enjoyed getting up in the morning.
It was May 1993, the weather was finally nice, and my first-period class was B&W photography. There were only four of us in that class and Ms. Yellick-Manley loved us, or so we thought, because we were smartasses and she let us get away with a lot. Phil was in that class with me, and so between that and the fact that we loved taking photos, and were given a lot of room to experiment while shooting and in the darkroom, it was pretty much a glorified, artistically invigorated study hall.
My morning routine that month consisted of waking up and listening to the following songs from SitV: “My Love -> Building on Fire”, “Don’t Worry About the Government”, “Warning Sign”, “I Zimbra”, “Once In A Lifetime”, “Burning Down The House”, and, finally, “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”. If I recall correctly, they were all on the first disc (this was back when we still had discs), and they were a good way to trace the most joyous, buoyant route through the first half of a mostly joyous, buoyant musical career. “Naive Melody”, especially, was the best way to send myself off into the often difficult, occasionally revelatory existence that was 10th grade in a small town in Iowa.
While riding my bike to work along the Mississippi River this morning, “This Must Be the Place” appeared on my iPhone’s shuffle. I keep my phone in my pocket with its tiny speakers emitting my favorite songs, however faintly, so I don’t get something terrible stuck in my head during the long ride. (QV last night, when I inexplicably got “What Would You Say?” by the Fucking Dave Matthews Band lodged in my head during my ride through downtown.)
Anyway, “Naive Melody” made me glad to be awake on a Monday morning, riding my bike, even if I couldn’t hear it all that well, and even if (especially if?) I was no longer 16 years old.
Talking Heads - “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” (via Hype Machine)
Posted: May 4th, 2009 under General, Grinnell, Minneapolis, Music.
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