Mrs. A has oldies on in kitchen and the Stones' "Paint It Black" just ended. I have a vivid

[Atticus]

memory attached to that song.

I was 16 and summer vacation had just started. A friend and I hitched a ride to a local "resort", which in southern Illinois at that time meant there was a lake with a beach. I had been there before with my family, but this was my first trip "on my own".

We went straight to the beach, of course, because that's where the girls in bikinis were. At the far end of the beach was a small grove of trees with a couple of picnic tables under them. And, that's where the "in crowd" had gathered: the coolest senior guys and the prettiest and most "popular" girls. And, there on top of a picnic table sat Mr. Cool himself, known to all as "Jack". He had a baby blue and white '57 Chevy, eyes as blue as Paul Neuman's and girls found it suddenly difficult to breathe if he smiled at them.

Jack sat there, sipping an illegal Budweiser longneck and the Stones launched into "I see a red door---" on someone's transistor radio, I recall thinking "What could be better than to be Jack?" Halfway through high school, I had no idea where I was bound or what I wanted. But, Jack, he knew---and he had it all already.

About 30 years later, I heard that Jack's son had died a year earlier from a heroin OD and that leukemia had just taken Jack. And, I remembered Paint It Black and the Bud and the Chevy and I counted the years. Jack was 47 when he died.

Strange how songs can trigger such memories.

[lagomorph777]

1. Love that song - one of only two Stones songs that I like.

The other is Ruby Tuesday.

Both were very unusual for that early period.

[Warpy]

2. Most of the in crowd in my HS likely peaked there

I was lucky enough to be a late bloomer, a very late one. I've never gone to a reunion. In fact, the only 2 times I ever went back to that town, I stuck around the 'rents, there was simply no one from that dungeon I wanted to see again who was still in town, we'd all had the sense to leave.

I did look them up online back in the 90s. The golden boys, the cheerleader girls, all of them stayed in that town, none of them rising above the level of owning an insurance office or selling real estate. I didn't wish them ill (well, maybe one or two truly rotten ones), I just found it sad that the kids who had everything wound up with relatively little in terms of the big, wide world.

[luvs2sing]

3. Summer of 73..

Between my freshman and sophomore years of high school. I’m not a water or beach person but, for some reason, my best friend and I spent the entire summer at the local pool. Except for rainy days. On rainy days, we made spaghetti and watched the Watergate investigation.

Two songs were on heavy rotation at the pool that summer: Frankenstein by Edgar Winter Group, and Smoke On the Water by Deep Purple. To this day, if I hear either song, I can smell this odd mixture of sweat, Coppertone, chlorine, and concession stand hot dogs.

I’m still in touch with that best friend, but we were out of touch for many years. Within three years of that wonderful summer, she moved away, got hooked on drugs and alcohol, and was in and out of jail many times. Our lives could not have turned out more differently but, when we talk, we always go back to that sweet summer at the pool.

[llmart]

4. I love that story.

I'm probably about the same age as you and the music of my youth can actually transport me in time. Sometimes I get a brief moment where I can envision all of a moment in time, including the smell of the perfume I wore at that time (Chantilly) and the clothes I had on.

Music absolutely can trigger so many memories. I love Spotify for that reason.

I guess when you get old you have a visceral need to relive your past to know that you lived a full life. One of my sisters and I can wallow in nostalgia for hours on end on the telephone. When we sign off for the night we always agree that we never run out of incidents to talk about, laugh about, cry about.