She's Eclectic

When I was 23 and managing a restaurant, one of the other managers asked me on a date. I was in the place where so many women start out—unable to find a nice way to say no so I said OK. It was a fairly nice evening. He had a nice car, nice apartment, nice stereo. He played this song, and how I wish I'd been attracted to him.

I've been having a hard time the last several days. Lots of remembering and crying. Watch out for the 9-month mark I guess.

My mom loved disco. It was the soundtrack to the time in her life when she really blossomed into herself—don't judge! She especially loved the group A Taste of Honey ("Boogie Oogie Oogie"). This song of theirs just showed up in my shuffle. I feel like it's a clear message to me from her, if such a thing is possible. She's at the rainbow's end. (She loved rainbows, too.)

Last night I told a friend that I was a little scared of hearing this song over the holidays. It can make me cry in normal times, but also, Mom loved it. 

I decided to listen to it, to test my reaction. I did not break down. It seemed like an affirmation. Like, we did celebrate her home. And she's still here, and she's OK. My therapist's view of where she is now has really stuck. I keep offering caveats – "I don't know for sure, could just be fade to black, I know…" But that stubborn, wonderful knowing she's still in the Universe and more than OK stays with me.

I have looked for this for decades now. My 45 is long gone and it doesn't appear to be commercially available now. I like it better than the album version. It has a nice choral part in the chorus. I like the "you can feel it" repeated at the end.

Update: I found it! On The Best of James Taylor. Another little piece of my happy past retrieved.

I will always think of my cat Vincent when I hear this. I would grab him into my arms and whirl him around like a dance partner when this was playing. I remember sunshine and silly sweetness. I will never get over losing him.

I heard this when I got back in the car after Donna's funeral service.

This song captures 1980 better than any other. All that "soft rock" that I was so embarrassed to admit I loved. Not anymore. The sun shines when I hear this. I wear leotards and have my hair cut short and spend a lot of time at the Classic Motor Company drinking chablis spritzers.

Another song without a YouTube video. The lyrics are beautiful, reminding me of my first years in SoCal in the early ’00s. People slag on California, Southern California, and Los Angeles in particular. I love it. Maybe because it's such a center of creative energy. Yes, there's a lot of icky, slick, ego-driven crap that goes along with that, but such is the way of the world. Don't lose track of the love.

4/6/2020 – Found it! So beautiful.

This has the golden glow about it of the 80s I loved. It wasn't all New Wave and purple jumpsuits. Maybe it was being in the Young Adult phase, but I was caught up in a sense of fun and and possibility then that is perfectly captured by this song. 

I love this so much. Sweet piano jazz, horrifying lyrics. The backstory in the YouTube note is kind of sad, though.