2.28.24

Sitting here on the bench

With my back against the fence

Wondering if I have any sense, girl

A year ago today, I was sitting in on a Zoom session of the program I was participating in to get my teaching license. I was exhausted.

There were still three-and-a-half months of the regular school year, and just a bit less than that for the licensure program. It had already been an intense year of teaching by the seat of my pants and immediately applying everything I leaned in the program. I was on winter break from teaching that day, and the last thing I wanted was to spend the afternoon being a student.

We moved from general discussion into breakout rooms to do some brainstorming and problem solving. Then it was time for a break, and one of my teachers put on some music.

Transcendence.

I spent the next three minutes and 14 seconds traveling to an idyllic spring day, renewed and ready to take on whatever came next.

The song was Sitting in the Park, from Billy Stewart’s 1965 album, I Do Love You.

There’s something about the sound of ‘60s soul that creates visions of gentle spring days, filled with warm breezes and the revelation of a world blossoming after a winter of frozen soil and hearts.

I leaned on Stewart and his musical cohort to get me through to last summer. Along the way, I dove into Phillysound and gained a deeper admiration and appreciation of musicians like The Delfonics, Leon Huff, and The Spinners. All artists I knew and enjoyed, but not artists I knew a lot about. Admittedly, my education is cursory at best, but it’s a journey that hearing just one song took me on.

There’s something special about that.

Addendum: I’d be doing a poor job if I didn’t mention syruphands, a track from hip hop duo B. Cool-Aid that samples Sitting in the Park in an incredible way. It’s from the 2019 album, Syrup. The whole thing is 15 minutes of jazz-rap and neosoul that is guaranteed to chill you out. I’ll include syruphands under Sitting in the Park.