When I worked in retail clothing during high school in Roosevelt Field, the brightest star in the LI mall constellation, I had to listen to the store’s musical soundtrack four times during a shift. The tapes were exactly two hours long, were controlled and sent by Corporate and changed on a monthly basis.
Music became an obsession of mine while I was there. I actually did not mind getting in an hour or two before the store opened so I could blast Black Sabbath while folding clothes. When the store opened though, we went with the Corp tape and man did it suck.
One summer, each and every minute of one month, I cannot remember if it was July or August, was spent listening to utter shite, the dreck of drecks and I was completely and utterly miserable almost all day long. Only one song was good and it was my saving grace: “Walk of Life” by Dire Straits.
When I think of the song I immediately think of the video, unlike almost any other song. First off, it is one of the first videos I can remember (like Thriller) but even more importantly, I just loved it. I mean loved it. I think the infatuation was completely because of its sports bloopers. The song and video was a stepping stone – I went from simply liking sports to enjoying, caring about, following, etc both sports and music. Years later, when music started to overtake sports in my life in terms of what made my motor run, here was this magical song, pregnant with memory, bringing me four minutes and 13 seconds of happiness every two hours.
When I heard the tune at that time I remembered my childhood and drifted away from everything else for that short time. Now, when I hear that song, I have a compound of memories. I remember my high school years, the days when I worked only in the summer, the transition from being dependent to independent on top of those suburban childhood thoughts.
So, happy Friday – enjoy it with good tunes as you do the walk, the walk of life…