For Me, He Lives On In Supertramp
Music is amazing.
No, really, it is just absolutely amazing, because of the way it can strike you with a a lightning bolt in your heart when you least expect it.
Some story on NPR referred to Supertramp; I don't remember what the story was about. They played "Breakfast in America" and I was instantly transported to angrily waking up in my bunkbed back in my house to that album blasting from the record player, with my dad yelling that it was time for us to get up and do our chores.
God, it nearly made me cry right there.
So I got on iTunes and bought the album. Then I checked out the "Listeners Also Bought" list, and saw so many familiar album covers. Aja by Steely Dan. Synchronicity by The Police. Zenyatta Mondatta, also by The Police. Clicked on Zenyatta Mondatta, found the track "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around," and got shocked again. For the love of God, I can see the record spinning on the player in my mind. And that one did make me cry.
This was the soundtrack of my formative years, just like "Lost in the Supermarket" by The Clash and "Surrender" by Cheap Trick evoke the mix cassette playing in our little rust-colored (and covered) VW Rabbit as we went on road trips. These are probably some of the earliest memories I have, and I associate them with nothing but good times (except for the yelling for us to wake up, and even now those are good times in retrospect).
It makes me wonder if Caroline will have the same reactions to Ben Folds, The Killers, Imogen Heap, and all the other artists we listen to today, the same age as I was when we played those LPs. I suppose she will.
I hope I'll be around when she does.
Crossposting this to LJ, Facebook, and Everything2.