Songs are a touchstone for my memories. A familiar song can easily take me back to a specific time and place, releasing a flood of thoughts and feelings and emotions. On hearing about the passing of Prince, I felt a sense of sadness that was not only for a great artist whose time had been cut short, but also for my teenage years that stand out in my mind so vivid and bright. Prince’s songs were a soundtrack to my youth, a song list of joy, discovery and heartbreak.
I remember standing in the gym at my first high school dance, dressed in a jeans jacket and hoopy earrings, and thinking hairspray don’t fail me now. “Purple Rain” came on, and the guy I liked, the one I had been watching from the safety of my group of friends, came towards us, and my heart was beating he’sgoingtoaskme, ohgod, he’sgoingtoaskme. And then I could taste the disappointment as he asked another girl to slow dance instead. Someone touched my elbow, and there stood the guy who had given me a rose for Valentine’s Day in the seventh grade, and when he asked me to dance I said yes, and as we swayed together on the floor under the slowly swirling lights I thought I’ll never forget this moment…
I remember driving my car, blasting “Little Red Corvette,” and while my car wasn’t a corvette or red, I played the song over and over again as we circled Heritage Square, trying to gather the courage to stop and talk to that guy, or maybe that one, and ending up going through the McDonald’s drive-through just so we didn’t look stupid, my friend squealing, he’s there, he's RIGHT there, and then realizing we didn’t have any money and having to order a cup of water much to the McDonald’s guy’s disgust…
I remember giving a party at my house, blasting “1999,” but 1999 felt like it was so far off, like a millennium away, and everyone was laughing because someone had let all my birds out of their cages, and opened the Christmas presents under the tree, and even though I was thinking how am I going to explain this one to my parents, I didn’t care because all that mattered was right here, right now….
I remember breaking up with a guy, and spending hours making mixed tapes, tears falling on the cassettes as I added “When Doves Cry” and REM, and Depeche Mode, and U2. I listened to “When Doves Cry” over and over again, that guitar solo and opening iconic beats reverberating through my entire body as I blasted the song as loud as it would go…
Prince is gone, and so are my teenage years. But the songs and memories remain, and even though I’m driving a SUV now, booster seats and baseball gear in the back, whenever I hear “Little Red Corvette,” it takes me back to when all that mattered was right here, right now, and 1999 seemed so far away.
I remember standing in the gym at my first high school dance, dressed in a jeans jacket and hoopy earrings, and thinking hairspray don’t fail me now. “Purple Rain” came on, and the guy I liked, the one I had been watching from the safety of my group of friends, came towards us, and my heart was beating he’sgoingtoaskme, ohgod, he’sgoingtoaskme. And then I could taste the disappointment as he asked another girl to slow dance instead. Someone touched my elbow, and there stood the guy who had given me a rose for Valentine’s Day in the seventh grade, and when he asked me to dance I said yes, and as we swayed together on the floor under the slowly swirling lights I thought I’ll never forget this moment…
I remember driving my car, blasting “Little Red Corvette,” and while my car wasn’t a corvette or red, I played the song over and over again as we circled Heritage Square, trying to gather the courage to stop and talk to that guy, or maybe that one, and ending up going through the McDonald’s drive-through just so we didn’t look stupid, my friend squealing, he’s there, he's RIGHT there, and then realizing we didn’t have any money and having to order a cup of water much to the McDonald’s guy’s disgust…
I remember giving a party at my house, blasting “1999,” but 1999 felt like it was so far off, like a millennium away, and everyone was laughing because someone had let all my birds out of their cages, and opened the Christmas presents under the tree, and even though I was thinking how am I going to explain this one to my parents, I didn’t care because all that mattered was right here, right now….
I remember breaking up with a guy, and spending hours making mixed tapes, tears falling on the cassettes as I added “When Doves Cry” and REM, and Depeche Mode, and U2. I listened to “When Doves Cry” over and over again, that guitar solo and opening iconic beats reverberating through my entire body as I blasted the song as loud as it would go…
Prince is gone, and so are my teenage years. But the songs and memories remain, and even though I’m driving a SUV now, booster seats and baseball gear in the back, whenever I hear “Little Red Corvette,” it takes me back to when all that mattered was right here, right now, and 1999 seemed so far away.
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