Something for Thursday

I’m reading The Uncool by Cameron Crowe right now. This book, which came out last year, is pretty much an answer to the question: “Hey, Crowe, we know that you based Almost Famous on your own life experiences as a kid, so why don’t you tell us the real story?” And I’ll have more to say when I finish the book, but here’s a passage that really stuck with me already:

“Take It Easy” hit the airwaves a few weeks later, like a blast of California sunshine. The band was called Eagles. (You were not supposed to call them the Eagles back then.) The song was instantly memorable, a potent stew of the stuff I’d loved. I always felt that a favorite song has a mind of its own. It arrives just when you need it, and that arrival memory remains for the rest of time. Every time you hear the song, you can remember the feeling, like you’re reading a diary entry. It’s one of music’s great gifts. I bought a used electric guitar, turquoise, of course; learned the play the song; joined a band called the Masked Hamster; rehearsed with the Masked Hamster twice in my schoolmate Russ Schumacher’s garage; was told the band had broken up; walked by Russ’s house a few days later; heard the Masked Hamster practicing with a new guitarist; and decided my instrument was the typewriter. All to the soundtrack of “Take It Easy”.

That thing Crowe says there, about a favorite song being like looking at a diary entry? I could not agree more. A whole lot of “Something For Thursday” has simply been just about that: sharing songs or pieces of music that have been a part of my life. (And yes, some of it has been about exploring new stuff, too. One needs to hear music, not just because you never know when the next song or symphony or filmscore or overture of your life is going to come along, but also because the new music informs the old favorites, gives them context. When you hear some new band that is flying because the band of your youth taught them how to walk, that’s really something.)

So…heck, where was I? Oh yeah, this is a Something For Thursday post. Here’s “Take It Easy”.

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