If you read the last Soundtrack post, it wasn't pretty. It was junior high school. Well, we aren't outta them woods yet.
BUT, today's story is a nice one. Whew!
Date: First day of 7th grade
Place: Hallway outside of health class
You're probably wondering why we're in the hall. Well, the gym teacher taught health class. I can't really remember the guy except he was big and had no neck. Yep, one of those guys, so he was coming from the gym, and he was late.
Meanwhile, I started talking to this blonde haired girl that I didn't know while we waited. She was really nice (unlike so many other people at this dreadful place). Turned out we had quite a few classes together. She would become my best friend all through high school, and someone that I'm still extremely fond of today. You can call her Jennifer The First. Jennifer was a popular name in the 60s and there are lots of 'em in my demographic.
Anyway, as I loosed myself from the girl down the street and the girl one street over, I found myself a new group of friends. Jennifer The First, Jenny, Michelle, and Kris. We all were in band, choir, etc. Some of us also loved theatre. These people saved my life. I'm so thankful for them. But most of all for Jennifer The First.
I know this song isn't actually geared toward friends. But I do thank God for each of them. I've got to give credit where credit is due... I thank God for you.
Well, I've been called a self-made man
And girl don't you believe it's true
I know exactly how lucky I am
When I'm gettin' this close to you
And girl don't you believe it's true
I know exactly how lucky I am
When I'm gettin' this close to you
It's high time I'm giving some praise
To those that got me where I am today
To those that got me where I am today
I got to thank mama for the cookin'
Daddy for the whuppin'
The Devil for the trouble that I get into
Daddy for the whuppin'
The Devil for the trouble that I get into
I go to give credit where credit is due
I thank the bank for the money
Thank God for you
I thank the bank for the money
Thank God for you
A strong heart and a willing hand
That's the secret to my success
A good women, I try to be a good man
A good job, Lord, I know I've been blessed
That's the secret to my success
A good women, I try to be a good man
A good job, Lord, I know I've been blessed
I'm just a part of a greater plan
It doesn't matter which part I am
It doesn't matter which part I am
I got to thank mama for the cookin'
Daddy for the whuppin'
The Devil for the trouble that I get into
Daddy for the whuppin'
The Devil for the trouble that I get into
I go to give credit where credit is due
I thank the bank for the money
Thank God for you
I thank the bank for the money
Thank God for you
I got to thank mama for the teachin'
Daddy for the preachin'
The Devil for the trouble that I get into
Daddy for the preachin'
The Devil for the trouble that I get into
I got to give credit where credit is due
I thank the bank for the money
Thank God for you
I thank the bank for the money
Thank God for you
Mama
Daddy
Devil
Daddy
Devil
Yeah, I got to give credit where credit is due
I thank the bank for the money
Thank God for you
I thank the bank for the money
Thank God for you
I thank mama
I thank daddy
Devil
I thank daddy
Devil
Well, I got to give credit where credit is due
I thank the bank for the money
Thank God for you
I thank the bank for the money
Thank God for you
Good friends are important to cherish. The older we get, the more apparent that rings true. :)
ReplyDeleteWell that's a friend improvement. It seems as if I kept most of my friends all my life. Then as you age, you can always talk about the "........remember when's"
ReplyDeleteRosey ~ Yes, I feel the need to try and reconnect with some people who've fallen off my "personal grid." Life got crazy and it was just too hard to maintain those relationships long-distance. But, now that I'm getting better....
DeleteManzi ~ Yes, this was an improvement. Junior high was mostly terrible. Good friends made it bearable. I know that rhymed.
Good morning, Robin!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to find you in good spirits and I thank you for sharing your story of how Jennifer The First became your best friend in high school. I agree that friends, genuine friends, are a blessing. Kathleen Mae Schneider and I feel blessed to have you as a new friend.
It's been decades since I thought about or listened to country band Sawyer Brown which formed not far from my home here in Florida. However, I vividly recall watching their performances as contestants on Ed McMahon's TV talent competition Star Search. In 1983 Sawyer Brown won the title of best vocal group on that show.
Happy Monday to you, dear Robin!
Thank you Mr. Shady. Good friends are a blessing.
DeleteSawyer Brown was one of my favorite bands in the 90s. I didn't see them on Star Search, unlike so many of you. However, I've loved this song since the first time I heard it.
I remember Sawyer Brown from Star Search program. I have their first CD.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your story took an upturn!
Sawyer Brown, 1983 Star Search Champs!
ReplyDeleteIn college, I was pretty much resigned to hanging out with my girlfriend and just getting my degree as quickly as possible. Junior year, I helped start a fraternity, and many of those guys are still my friends today. Completely changed my college experience. I got involved with student government and affairs, and I learned leadership skills.
I was lucky to not have missed all those opportunities.
Dixie ~ What was their first CD????
DeleteJay ~ My friends will change again in college, but I'm not there yet. I agree that these friend connections are what makes life good. When we aren't making those connections, life gets very lonely. And people just aren't built well for that. At least not most people.
Good friends are very important! I remember seeing Sawyer Brown in college a long time ago!
ReplyDeleteTrue friends really help you through the difficult times. They are always needed
ReplyDeleteMike ~ I saw them back in the 90s at a fair in Michigan. Great concert!
DeleteBirgit ~ What would we do without friends???
Well, I don't thank God for country music, but I do thank God for good friends... you most definitely included!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a meeting determined by a good fate. Friends make life so bearable.
ReplyDeleteABFS ~ Ah, Bryan, I appreciate you, too. It's funny that we bonded over you telling me what a great writer I am. Hahahaha. Seriously, I feel grateful that we became friends because a) you make me a better writer, but also b) you're a super guy and a great friend. No one can have too many good friends!
DeleteSusan ~ Funny that you say that because Jennifer The First is the first person with whom I felt an instant connection. Even when we first met I felt like I'd known her forever. She isn't the only person with whom I've felt this instant connect, but she was the first. I don't think those friendships happen by accident.
Jr. High is where I met my best friend. Through him, we had a large group of friends that were all in the band and would go to concerts together. Sometimes it takes that one connection to open doors.
ReplyDeleteI think the difference can be in finding "common ground." For some people it's sports. Others it's music. Art. Drama. I hate to see the arts being cut from the school system. It's the ONE THING that made school bearable simply because it was FUN and it helped like-minded people to connect. Without those connections... well, I just can't imagine.
DeleteROBIN, the GIRL WONDER ~
ReplyDeleteGlad you found a good gal to pal 'round with.
And... that was a great little song right there. I don't know that I'd heard it before (never owned a Sawyer Brown album and by 1985, I really wasn't listening to radio anymore - was totally getting immersed into the Blues... although I do recall the TV show 'Star Search'). But within the first 5 seconds, I KNEW I was gonna like this song. Funny how sometimes a song needs to grow on ya, and other times you're boppin' to the beat right outta the chute!
Nice installment of your 'THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE' ('TSOML'). I won't be posting my installments nearly so frequently as you do, because I'm mostly just gonna be using 'TSOML' as in-between blog bits, dividing my 'BOTB' contests. But I'm like the hare... slow and steady and... I'll get there.
~ D-FensDogG
'Loyal American Underground'
I'm very thankful that I found much better friends. Funny the way it all works out. Not really. I think it's planned and not coincidental at all... but that's a longer story.
DeleteFunny thing, but you and I've already talked about Sawyer Brown. A while ago in an E, I linked you to this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncLZD4KFUD4
because of your James Dean post. Remember now?
Going strictly on my memory, Some Girls Do came out before Thank God For You, but both came out in the early 90s (while I was living in Savannah, GA... so to be more specific that would be between 1992-1994). They were one of my favorites back then, and probably still would be today, but I don't think they've recorded anything in quite a while.
And I know that you tend to be a slow poster. No worries. That's one of the great things about this deal. Post what you want when you want:)
Oh... and are you EVER gonna respond to my E, or is the "I got your E and will respond soon" the extent of the response??? Or did you already respond and I not get it? Or did you forget? Anyway, I'm still waiting... not all that patiently.. but waiting.
DeleteGIRL PATIENT... ehm,... well, "pretty patient" ~
DeleteFunny thing about that... I didn't want to say that I HAD heard this song before if I wasn't totally sure I had but... it did seem kind of familiar. And... after I watched this 'THANK GOD FOR YOU' video three times, I noticed that at the end, a link to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncLZD4KFUD4 showed up. I clicked on it and DISTINCTLY remembered you having turned me on to THAT song before. So, my mind, while it ain't what it used to be (and NEVER WAS!), still isn't totally shot all to hell. (Maybe 95% of the way there though.)
DOGNAP-IT! I am SO SORRY (SERIOUSLY!) about how long it's taking me to respond to your last E (which I thought was "Girl Wonderful", by the way). It's been on my mind, and I've been MEANING to reply to it (still staring at me and yelling at me from my E InBox).
And I WOULD have responded long before now except that... some evil man gave me some bad wine. I was so upset that later, I went looking for him to settle the score and... the evil son-of-a-bitch apologized to me in the form of a free gallon-jug of wine... which ALSO turned out to be bad.
I've given up trying to settle the score with that evil man, so I should be getting that rEply sent to you soon. Not tonight though, because I'm still vomiting from the bad wine and taking a little tonic water (and gin) for my stomach's sake.
But soon, Soon, SOON. I promise. Sorry... (seriously).
~ Stephen T. McSorryboy
"A Window For Every Door"...
DeleteGREAT blog bit title, by the way!
~ D-FensDogG
Well, I'm glad you didn't forget, but I'm sorry that you encountered the evil man and his wine (honestly, you've got to give me some in-depth on THAT story in the email).
DeleteEvery now and then I come up with something remotely clever. A Window For Every Door... I thought it was pretty good, too.
I definitely did NOT forget. And I WILL 'splain the "evil man" and "bad wine" line... when I write ya. (It's from a great, old movie. You could probably find it by Googling.)
Delete~ D-FensDogG
I was just thinking yesterday about 3 of my girlfriends who shaped me and my life in ways I can't describe except to say, like you did, they saved my life.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this special sentiment and song, Robin.
This whole Soundtrack thing is doing several things for me. 1) I'm revisiting stuff both good and bad that shaped what I'd later do and seeing how I feel about it now. I tapped a lot of this stuff out over a year ago. It's a "test" to see what my emotional attachment is. So far, so good:) 2) It's an opportunity for all of you to participate in what is surely shared experience. 3) And, lastly, a way for everyone to share their experience, which can be very freeing.
DeleteYep, this blog has gone back to "blog therapy."
Sawyer Brown!! Yes, they were great - "Step That Step" was a favorite of mine. Oooo, and "Some Girls Do." You're making my brain work now.
ReplyDeleteWhen the A-to-Z is over, I'm going to find a regular day to post the Soundtrack of My Life - it's a GREAT idea.
Cherdo,
DeleteWhen I first thought of this, I had NO IDEA how many songs would be involved. What I'm learning is that the more I think about a time, the more songs come to mind. And I want to include both the positive and the negative. I suspect that more time will be devoted to the first half of my life than the latter (but I don't know... I could be wrong, since I haven't thought so much about it yet). It just seems like so many things happened that shaped my thinking in these early years. Some were good (like having friends is a good thing), but others were just *wrong.*
So, I hope you do take the time and do this and do it one post at a time. It will give your reader the opportunity to actually listen to the song. More importantly, it will give you time to really think about what those events were for you. And you might just see how they played out in your life later on. (That is always eye-opening.)
Anyway, I look forward to reading your Soundtrack posts. If you let StMc and I know when you begin we'll add you to the link at the bottom!
No, I won't!
DeleteDon't speak for McME!
I have NO INTENTION of adding a 'TSOML' link to Cherdo's blog in my forthcoming 'TSOML' blog bits!
[;-)}
Ha! I jest, of course.
"Jocularity! Jocularity!"
~ D-FensDogG
I had a few friends growing up. A best friend who moved away, but whom I still spent the summers with, and twin sisters from up the street. But to tell the truth, the best friends I had in high school were books. It was just easier that way. It wasnt until college that I allowed myself to step out of my turtle shell. But friends ARE key and there are a couple now I can rely on no matter what. It's lovely not to doubt.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you read my earlier post about the mean girls (one of which was my supposed best friend). Friends are tricky to navigate when you're young. So much insecurity floating in the air makes it hard for people to actually be good friends. So, when you find people who are/can, it's a blessing. I think that Jennifer the First was a better friend to me than I to her. She saved my life. I don't know if I did that for her or not... I hope so, but she was always the stronger of the two of us (and definitely the "better" person).
DeleteI didn't have a whole lot of friends in junior high and high school, but the ones I did have made it a lot easier being there. A life without some friends would be kind of difficult I think, especially in a social institution like a school.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard any Sawyer Brown in ages. I used to listen to them back in the '80's. I saw them in concert in Dallas when they were the opening act for Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers when they toured together. We were surprised later when we realized the members of Sawyer Brown were staying at the same hotel where we were staying when we saw their tour bus in the hotel parking lot. Didn't get to meet the band members or anything like that though.
Arlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
A Faraway View
I'm sorry to read about all this, Robin. I've had my share of thoughtless and mean people too. Not only in high school, but in workplaces and at college. One still harasses me when he can. I try to stay incognito. I left home and birthplace to get a fresh start.
ReplyDelete