April 18, 2005

• There Are Stars in the Southern Sky ...

  
  

  When I was in high school, my senior year, I had a garage band.  Sort of.  We didn't have a garage so we set up in the backyard and entertained the neighborhood.  There's a chance that we annoyed people for a ten block radius, but we didn't think about that at the time.  And even looking back, I don't think they minded so much.  Partly because we were good, and partly because we were given a tolerance for that kind of thing back then that I don't see now.  I can't imagine a group of kids getting away with that in this neighborhood.

  
  

  My hometown has an annual party - the Brickfest.  Yeah - I know it's kind of funny, but we have the Acme Brick factory that turns out SO many bricks that it's the brick capital of the world.  Well, the first of those annual parties took place in the summer after my senior year and we were invited to be one of the few amateur acts included on the program. 

  
  

  I don't know what we expected, I know that I didn't expect nearly the turnout that we got.  There were hundreds of people who crowded onto the courthouse lawn to hear us.  We had sound equipment that wasn't quite as good as the average karaoke machine these days.  But we had a fantastic time.  We were invited to play a couple more places and parties that summer, and then it all was over when I loeft home for college that fall. 

  
  

  Our signature sound was tight tight harmony that my sister and I performed.  As sisteres our voices were so close to start with that we could do things that you just can't achieve with a non-relative.  We had the most incredible guitarist I've ever had hte pleasure of working with.  Our signature song was one that the Eagles made popular.  I hadn't listened to it in ... I can't remember when.  But I have had it on my speakers today so I just called my sister and allowed the opening lines to play into her voice mail.  It didn't take long before she called me back saying, "WOW - that's been a while ..." 

  
  

  If I could figure out how to put it as an option on my site that didn't automatically play when you load the page, I'd put that song here.  But since I don't want to annoy my friends, I'll just say that "Seven Bridges Road" is special to me for a lot of reasons.  I loved it at the time because it was a song about my home, I lived under those southern skies, breathed the magnolia air, and could see the moolinght through the moss hung trees every time we sang it.  Now, it's the memory that gets me. 

  
  

  There are stars
  In the Southern sky
  Southward as you go
  There is moonlight
  And moss in the trees
  Down the Seven Bridges Road
  
  Now I have loved you like a baby
  Like some lonesome child
  And I have loved you in a tame way
  And I have loved you wild
  
  Sometimes there's a part of me
  Has to turn from here and go
  Running like a child from these warm stars
  Down the Seven Bridges Road
  
  There are stars in the Southern sky
  And if ever you decide
  You should go
  There is a taste of time sweetened honey
  Down the Seven Bridges Road

  
  

  time sweetened honey ...

  
  

   

  
  

  
  

  
  

  What song takes you back?  Where do you go?  How do you feel when you get there?

  • 3:41 pm
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