These two songs brought back two memories
I have Sirius satellite radio in my new car and since Sirius merged with XM (I was a customer before the XM merger btw) and I'm starting to actually find a few channels I really like. The most recent example of this the Sirius channel called "The Boneyard" on channel 19. Today I heard two songs and they brought back two very distinct, very different memories of my youth. Thw two songs were Eddie Money - Gimme Me Some Water, and Jimi Hendrix - "All Along the Watchtower".
Eddie Money - Gimme Me Some Water
Just in case you wanted to re-live the memory with me:
Back in the late 1980's, I was in high school and luckily I had some friends with incredible taste in music. At the time, First Avenue (still one of the great music venue in the country) had what they they called "Teen Dance Party" on Sunday nights during the summer. They had two music halls. One was the "Main Stage" room and during the night they would play techno music. In the smaller "7th Street Entry" room, they would have local and national punk bands play. The funny part was in between the punk sets, the punks would invade the techno dance floor, and for about 10 minutes ,would start a huge slam dance pit and drive all the dancers off the floor till the punk band started playing their second set. It was a pretty funny thing to watch.
One night, my friend and I drove down to First Avenue, It was always a fun thing since we were suburban kids, it was a mild culture shock for me and I always had a hard time trying to find something to wear in order to fit in. Most of the time, it was pretty obvious we weren't "real" punks. Back then skateboarding and punk rockers were pretty synonymous with each other. I was getting back into skateboarding, so I just threw on some skate clothes and I was good to go. My friend Jeremy picked me up in his silver Honda Accord and we started our journey into the big city. The sun was going down as we parked in adjacent lot and you could see the last rays of a cool August night fading in between the buildings . Now there are some things you need to understand about the 7th Street Entry. First of all, it's a SMALL venue. I would say the capacity is no more than 50 people. Think about 50 punks, skinheads and metalheads, all cramming into the pit, tossing each other around. The body oder, sweat and music filled the room quickly. It made for a very unique atmosphere.
SNFU, 1989, and Chi-Pig
That night there were three bands who were playing. I don't remember the first band, but the second was "Test Monkey" which is a funny name for a punk band. They had a white sheet behind their drummer which had a monkey body and skull for the head, with blood dripping out of the head. I'm pretty sure they were going for the shock value. It certainly didn't make their music sound very good. Jeremy and I spent the majority of the time in the main stage area, waiting for the "headliner" SNFU. As 10:00pm approached, we saw the punks moving back into the 7th Street Entry, and we knew the show was about to kick off. My friend Jeremey had just bought some brand new Vison Street Wear shoes and was dying to try them out in the pit. He bragged about doing some crowd surfing and mixing it up with the punks in the pit.
The show was a blast. I never ventured into the pit, opting instead to bang my head with the other people on the outside of the pit. Jeremy was in the pit most of the time, mixing it up, just like he said, getting several body surfing rides during the band's first set. The skinheads were doing their part, staying on the outside like some band roadie, keeping order and making sure if someone fell down in the pit, they would pull them up by their shirts and deflect any flying fists or feet being hurled in their direction, until they could get to safety. As their second set was winding down, and after several aerial maneuvers on the ceiling truss (I told you it was small!) by Chi-Pig, the lead singer of SNFU announced they only had a few more songs, and then launched into a very familiar song.
Gimme Some Water
When the band launched right into the famous Eddie Money song, "Gimme Some Water". It was incredible. Chi-Pig was grabbing huge buckets of water and dousing the pit in water as he sang. The crowd sang along and it was great way to put a stamp on the show. They played a few more songs, but I couldn't get over hearing that song, by a punk band, in a tiny venue and all the punks ate it up. It left me with such a great feeling. On the way out, I grabbed a t-shirt and I was still singing the song as we walked back to the car.
Fast forward some 20+ years later, the song comes on the radio as I'm leaving work and I can't help but singing the song as loud as I could in my car, remembering that night and nearly every detail. It was a great feeling, and I barely noticed the horrible traffic.
And oh yeah, you'd never think that shirt lasted too long. I mean, a punk show, a cheap $8 silk screened t-shirt - right?
Um yeah, it's still with me. Through all those years of wear and tear. I wore it under my jersey every soccer game I had in college. Nowadays I wear it under my hockey equipment every so ofter, or just to bed. And yes, it's a little tighter, but if I suck my stomach in just a little, it still feels like it did that cool August night back in 1989.
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
Some songs stick with you for various reasons. Maybe it was some cool event, maybe it was the people you were with. For whatever reason a song sparks a memory, it's unique to you and a period in your life. Most people I know associate most Hendrix songs with drugs (go figure) or some drug experience. I can't blame them, but in 7th grade, drugs were the last thing on my mind. My life was basically soccer, hockey and girls (when they'd actually talk to me). I was just entering into my classic rock phase. I couldn't get enough Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Doors, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, CCR, The Stones, Cream and of course Jimi Hendrix.
I was just getting into Hendrix and everybody, EVERYBODY had the standard Jimi Hendrix album:
This was the one Hendrix album I had and fell in love with it the first time I listened to it. It was smokey, it was blusey and it was like nothing I had heard before. When you heard people say Hendrix was a pretty great guitarist, you had a pretty good idea on this album what they were talking about. But Bob Clements was about to change all that.
When you're in junior high listening to this songs and this amazing artists from the 60's, it makes you want to start a band, play the guitar, play the drums and try and achieve those incredible talents. My friend Bob Clements was that guy. He bought his first guitar a few months back and was learning to play. I was always the drum guy so learning how to play guitar never really did much for me. Neil Peart, Keith Moon and John Bonham were my idols.
Like all good music that's out there, you never know about it until someone exposes you to it. After digesting "Are You Experienced" I like Hendrix, but it wasn't like his music had changed my life. Not like The Who - "My Generation" did. But that was about to change.
It was a Friday night. Friday night usually meant hanging out a football game, walking to the nearby Perkins afterwards to get some grub, and then heading home. It was October and pretty cold. There was a group of us guys huddling up in the stands, talking about the usual stuff you talk about at 17. Girls, sports and of course music. Bob had brought along his walkman and in between football plays and conversation, he would slap his headphones and tune out. After asking him what he was listening to, he simply replied, "Hendrix" and then mentioned he had a new favorite song. I thought he was going to say it was "Hey Joe" or "Foxy Lady", the usual response from people who were Hendrix fans, but only owned "Are You Experienced?", but then he said, "Have you heard "All Along the Watch Tower?", it really kicks ass, the guitar parts are impossible." I had no idea what he was talking about and I had never heard of the song, so I told him to let me listen. Before handing the headphones over to me, he warned me, "The first riffs are going to blow your mind."
I slide phones over my ears and to say I was blown away was an understatement. Even in the cold October night, the wind whipping through my ears, me straining to hear those first chords, and I knew it was a special song. The first chords, the drums, that Hendrix sound. So distinctive, so special. I told him I had to hear the whole song myself and he vowed to make me a copy that weekend. Monday rolled around and I couldn't stop thinking about that song. Then when I got my hands on it and could listen to the song, hear that guitar wailing away, the pulse of the drums and those lyrics. Oh man, the lyrics just completed the song:
"There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."
"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl
The images this song generated in my head was crazy. I was reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy so you can imagine some of the dreams I had after a few chapters of those books, then listening to this before heading off to bed. This instantly became one of my favorite Hendrix tunes, It was just an amazing, amazing song.
Once again I was driving into work and this song comes on as I'm strolling through the channels and it took me right back to that same October night, huddling together, straining to hear this incredible song. Then to hear it in all its glory again was a great experience. I was singing this as loud as I could and then had it in my head all day long. I just keep reciting, "Two riders were approaching, and the wind began to howl." to myself and hearing Jimi launching into one of the greatest guitar solos EVER:
I will always maintain some my richest memories are directly related to music. I always seem to remember the scene. The sights, the sounds, the smells. All like they just happened yesterday.
Today was a great day. I got to relive two great memories I had, with two great songs. For me, music will never be too far away.
