Music – The Time Machine

If you know me well, you will know that music is a big part of my life.  One of the things I enjoy most about music is how it can instantly transport me to another time and place, just by hearing a few notes of a special song.  It’s been said that music is the way our memories sing to us across time. The author Lisa Schroeder said, “Music can be like a time machine. One song – the lyrics, the melody, the mood – can take you back to a moment in time like nothing else can.”  

Through the magic of the music encyclopedia app I have on my smartphone (Spotify), I can search for music in a variety of ways: by genre, by year, by artist, etc, and find exactly what I’m looking for.  I can even play a song, and then ask it to suggest other similar songs that it thinks I might like!  The other day, I decided to transport myself, through the magic of music, back to the 1970’s…the formative years of my life.  Wow!  So many random scenes and memories that I hadn’t thought about in years came flooding back as the music played!

With just one song, I was transported back to 1974.  That year, our eighth grade dance was held at the Tyler Municipal Rose Gardens.  It was a picture perfect Spring evening.  Moms had decorated the Rose Garden pavilion like we were Seniors, not eighth graders.  We even had a mirrored ball hung from the ceiling. Decked out in my light blue leisure suit and white shoes, I was there with my beautiful date for the occasion…we’ll call her Leslie.  

A DJ had been hired for the evening, and he came armed with all the hits of the day.  Songs like: “Blackwater” by the Doobie Brothers, “Rock Me Gently” by Andy Kim, and “Takin’ Care of Business” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive blared over the scratchy PA system.  A few brave classmates actually got out on the dance floor and “danced” with the wooden, scarecrow moves of eighth graders.  I’m not sure if Leslie just had a secret love for roses, or if perhaps she had seen me dance before, but luckily for me she wanted to take a walk out through the blooming rosebuds in the Rose Garden.  We walked and talked for a while, then sat down on a concrete bench beside the trail.  It was on that bench that one of the most embarrassing events of my life took place.  

As the DJ inside continued spinning the hits, the music floated out of the building and down into the Rose Garden like a cloud, creating our own special ambience amongst the rose bushes.  The music was a nice distraction for us as we dealt with the strange emotions and peculiar feelings hovering between us, struggling for words and making stilted conversation.  

At some point…perhaps it was when Gladys Knight sang “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”, or maybe when Barry White crooned “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love”, or maybe it was when Paul Anka was singing, “You’re Having My Baby”…anyway, at some point, the music in the air became a hot, sultry wind, and it was more than we both could stand!  The time was right!  Like an expert in these things, I casually stretched my arms high in the air, and as they came down I slyly let one drop across Leslie’s shoulders.  I then leaned over and moved in for our first kiss!  

For the life of me, I still don’t know what happened. In one second, lips were headed for lips, eyes were locked with eyes, and tongues were poised. A platter of pure pleasure was surely on its way!  But then somehow, in the next second, trajectories were miscalculated.  Angles were overestimated.  My anxious lips landed well below hers, ending up instead down on her broad, unsuspecting chin. Hitting a wall, my lips and my pride were instantly deflated.  The ultimate misfire.  The grand 3D experience I had dreamed about instantly flattened into a postcard…a 2D failure.

After that, it seemed like a good time to go back inside to join the others at the dance.  When we reached the top of the trail, I opened the door and led Leslie back into the room.  She was gracious and “tight-lipped” about the whole episode, and it was never mentioned between us afterwards.  It might have been my imagination, but I could swear that DJ knew exactly what had happened!  As we walked across the darkened room and found a table, I’m pretty sure he grinned at me as he started playing “Musta Got Lost” by the J. Geils Band.  An appropriate choice, definitely, however that song will never be found on any playlist of mine!

In the Fall of 1977, my Senior year at John Tyler High School, I somehow ended up on the small student committee that was in charge of playing the music at our post-game sock hops.  It was the perfect job for a bad dancer with no girlfriend, who liked music.  Every Friday night when the football game ended, I would stash away my trombone, change out of my band uniform, and rush to the gym to get things set up.  Our “audio system” included one reel-to-reel tape player that had been recently relegated to the school’s equipment storage room, and two beat-up old speakers that cracked severely if the sound level went above “8”. But we made do with that.  

None of us owned any records, to speak of.  So, on Wednesday of every week, we’d compile a list of 20-25 songs we wanted to play on Friday night, and then take the list down to the main radio station in Tyler, KTBB.  Mike Edwards, one of the DJs there, would take our list and make recordings for us.  On Friday morning, we’d drive downtown and pick up the reels of tape.  

This was a real curated effort.  We had to pick out songs that would keep everyone happy for an hour and a half (white kids, black kids, stoners, goat-ropers, etc.) and avoid creating a riot.  Plus, we had to arrange the songs in the proper order to maintain a good pace and mood, with just the right number of slow songs mixed in.  With reel-to-reel tape, you couldn’t just pick a track number and play it, or easily skip around from one track to another.  The playlist had to be carefully arranged!

Here’s what that list might have looked like:

Albert Einstein said, “I see my life in terms of music”.  These days it seems like we’re constantly bombarded by troubling news and events.  The next time you need to get away from the bad news, find a song that can take you somewhere more pleasant for a while! Good music doesn’t have an expiration date. 

What song can you think of that is your Time Machine?  Where does it take you? 

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