25 years, that's how long i've been listening to this album, an record that came out 25 years ago this week, and it was in that half-assed hipster record store, in a strip mall next to the proper mall that was Parmatown that i kept staring up at the cover and wondering what the fuck these guys were about, besides that they had a poster of them way in the back of the store where i can only assume the guys who worked there slipped behind the door to get high, did i mention it was also sorta a half-assed head shop as well for a time? and so it was the summer after my junior year of high school, a junior year that saw me delving into the Smiths and Joy Division and all sorts of other bands with funny accents when i stumbled upon this record and this band which has had just as much influence on my life as all those chaps from Manchester have, i mean really these were Midwestern boys just like me who liked to drink and smoke dope and i can remember working my shit job in the Thom McCan shoe store, a job stocking shelves two afternoons a week for pocket money to buy records and dope with, a job that looking back would start me on a long line of jobs in warehouses and shipping docks being classically under-employed, like Paul and Tommy and Bob and Slim, i would do my damnedest to underfuckingachieve, and here i am 25 years later and still flying that flag, typing shit missives into the blogosphere and getting to high to get any real work done and humming along to my favorite songs and staring at the ceiling, a fucking wonderful lie, a fucking beautiful life and yes yes i know i'm repeating myself, i know that somewhere in these useless archives i've talked about this band ad nauseum, talked about this record and others Mats records, talked about the years of Wendy the Wabbit and Marty McFly, admitting that i didn't really get this record when i bought all those years ago in the summer of 1987, only knowing that Alex Chilton was one of the best songs i'd ever heard and Skyway had this way of making me feel something that only a few other songs had ever done and now as i watch the gray creep in and the hair disappear it damn near brings me to tears when i hear it, reminds me of the girls i've lost and the friends who've come and gone, sets my mind running so fast that i couldn't tell what i'm thinking even if i tried...
and so this i drove home this hot shitty day and walked in and kissed the boyos and cracked a beer and put this record on, tickled the boyos and laughed as they danced around to one of daddy's favorite albums as daddy played air guitar and sang all the words in a raspy and tired voice, grinning at all my under-achieving and grinning at 25 years slipping by and thinking about the boy who bought this record and the man who was listening to it today and how all these years later it might have made more sense than it ever did... and then i broke my self -imposed ban on smokes (cuz i quit again) and stole one out of someones pack and snuck off to the backyard with another beer and cig cuz is it the 'Mats after all and as i flicked the lighter i started singing children by the millions cheer for Alex Chilton when he comes 'round/ singing i'm in love/ what's that song/ i'm in love/ with that song...
4 comments:
I heartily approve of this post and the music.
Record Rendezvous? Jesus. Parmatown. Santos pizza is the best. Have you been lately? That was "the" place when growing up but it's kind of a dump now. I didn't know who Alex Chilton was when this came out, that's how fucking un-hip I was. Am. But it's got a hell of a hook.
underachieving is underrated. i discovered it far too late in life. slacker suits me well... you are my muse...
Sybil- gracias.
UB- I believe that was the record store, kept confusing it with Record Revolution in Coventry and it was Mr. Westerberg who introduced me to Big Star, so don't feel so bad.
Daisy- The world needs more women like you for damn sure.
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