It Was a Simpler Time

I am in a nostalgic mood. The other day I was driving to school, and as I listened to my iPod on shuffle, AM Radio by Everclear came on. I've always like this song, and usually it puts me in a really good mood, but maybe it was too early in the morning this time... all it did was make me get all weepy about how many things have changed since I was a kid. Technology has done so many wonderful things, but I think it took a little of the magic in life's small things with it, when it came rushing in with all the information we could ever possibly want.

We've all had those moments when we're watching a movie or tv show, and we recognize one of the people, and it's just killing us, because we can't think of their name or what we saw them in. It was always so great when, some time later, I finally saw another movie with them in it, and I had that "aha!" moment. I don't get many of those lately, because now I can just type in whatever I'm watching into the IMDB website. When I was in the 8th grade, I remember recording "Waterfalls" by TLC onto a cassette tape, and I rewound and replayed that thing until I knew every single word to the song (yes, even Left-Eye's special rap part in the middle). I did this with Crossroads by Bone Thugs 'n' Harmony and a lot of other songs. I was kind of a nerd. Plus, lyrics have always been important to me. Now I can just go to Google, type in a couple of the lyrics in quotes, and it pops right up. I know it's easier now, but seriously, it was so satisfying to work that hard and really be glad that I finally knew the words! When I had a new favorite song, it was so exciting to hear it on the radio. I can remember being a kid, driving with my mom, and praying to God that a song I knew (I maybe knew 3 songs when I was 8 years old) would come on instead of her crazy Janis Joplin/Creedence Clearwater Revival hits. When one of the ones I knew came on, it seemed like such a miracle! These days, it doesn't mean all that much, because for a price cheaper than a 20 oz. soda, I can go and download it onto my own computer, and in my opinion, it's just not the same when I am in control over when and how often I hear my favorite song.

These are 2 sections of AM Radio that initiated most of the deep thoughts found in this blog :-)

The vcr and the dvd
There wasn't none of that crap back in 1970
We didnt know about a world wide web
It was a whole different game being played back when I was a kid

I'd be in bed with the radio on
I would listen to it all night long
Just to hear my favorite song
You'd have to wait, but you could hear it on the am radio



Just a little food for thought, to get us all thinking of the days of our generation's childhood, when the most exciting technology was Oregon Trail and Tetris (still the best game ever), and where each of us had at least one friend whose mom had a wood panel station wagon. Those were really the days.