3.9.24

You take the grey skies out of my way

You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day

You turned a bright spark into a flame (yeah, yeah)

My beats per minute never been the same

This is a long walk. Get comfortable.

My birthday is five days after Christmas. Most anyone with a birthday close to that holiday will tell you that this arrangement isn’t the greatest.

But I’m 1984 — the year I turned 10 — my parents made sure to go the extra mile gift-wise. I got my very own boom box. It was modest compared to the big, double-tape-deck, big speaker outfits some of my friends had. Mine had one cassette deck, an AM/FM radio, and a single speaker. My parents provided what they could afford, and I was elated.

I also got my first cassette as a gift. Well, my first new cassette. (My actual first cassette is a story for another time.) It was Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall. Again, not the Thriller album everyone else had. It was the less expensive alternative from the discount bin. But it was great. (I’ll write about that another time too.)

My immediate goal after getting my boom box was to save up enough money to buy my own cassettes. I did extra chores at the barn and sold a few baseball cards to my pals, and in a few weeks, I had enough cash saved up to go shopping.

The go-to place for music in my rural neck of the woods was Ames department store in Morrisville, VT. At the time, the music section was in the front left corner of the store as you walked in. Right next to the little diner area where I used to get the best hot dogs in the world on butter-toasted buns.

I didn’t care about hot dogs that day, though. While my mom grocery shopped next door at the P&C, I scoured the cassettes. I pretty much went into the store knowing what I’d buy, but I wanted to be a responsible shopper and make sure I was spending my money wisely.

I went with my initial instinct and bought Make It Big, the hugely successful second album from the British pop duo, Wham! I bought it based solely on my love of Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.

From the first time I heard the song on Solid Gold, I adored it. It made me feel light and happy. George Michael sang about Doris Day, the pretty lady I’d seen play Calamity Jane in the movie of the same name. And I thought the opening repetition of “Jitterbug” was weird and interesting.

A few years ago, I was driving my daughter to school one morning. We took turns with the aux cord and picking music. That particular morning, it was their turn to DJ.

“I found this cool old song,” they said. “I wonder if you know it.”

They turned the stereo up.

“Jitterbug.

“Jitterbug.”

Friends, I am not exaggerating when I say I temporarily flipped out and got way too excited about what I was hearing. It was an amazing moment of cross-generational connection. To this day, sometimes when the song comes up, they’ll look at me and ask, “Are you gonna be ok?”

Music. You know? There’s nothing like it.