Standard Music Monday Intro:
Let's say I have a CD player in my truck. And just for the sake of a blogable subject let's suppose that the CD player broke one day in such a way that the compilation CD currently in the player could not be ejected, the volume could not be changed from its position at medium loud and I cannot change over to the radio. If I'm in the truck and the key is in the ignition, then the CD is playing at medium high volume and it will continue to play until I exit the truck. It's music will span a trip to the corner convenience store for some Jumbo Juicy Love or across the entire nation. So I am stuck listening to this CD for all eternity. What 15 songs would I want the CD to contain and why?

My top 15 Songs in no particular order.


Previous Mondays:

#1 "La Grange" by ZZ Top from the album Tres Hombres.

#2 "Magic Man" by Heart from the album Dreamboat Annie.

#3 "Train Kept A Rollin'" by Areosmith from the album Get Your Wings.

#4 "Cowboy Song" by Thin Lizzy from the 1976 album Jailbreak.

#5 "Walkin' In Memphis" by Marc Cohn from the 1991 album Marc Cohn.


Today's offering: "Peace Of Mind" by Boston from the 1976 album Boston. My strongest attachment to a song is probably with this one. It seems to have been around every turn. I didn't really become interested in music until the late 60's and even then it was just a passing interest. In the 70's I got my first portable cassette player until then the only available player was an 8-track and a turntable in the family "entertainment console". It was pretty high tech for the times but I remember the FM tuner knob was about the size of a dessert plate. It was styled with a Spanish flair with speakers built in that had red "velvet" looking cloth coverings with wrought iron shaped grills. So when I got this cassette player I thought I had died and gone to heaven. There wasn't an abundance of cassette tapes for sale in town, so we recorded most of our music off of albums or off air.

Then I graduated to an 8-track player for my first car, which was a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle. I was on cloud nine. The first two 8-tracks I bought were a ZZ Top album and Boston's first album. One or the other of those two 8-tracks were in my player 80 percent of the time. Over and Over again.

During spring break three friends and I went on our first road trip without adult supervision. The time spent in Red River skiing is a story left untold or at least told at a later date. What I wanted to tell you was that we took a Cadillac belonging to the dad of one of the guys. This was a new Caddy and it had a killer sound system and yes it was equipped with an 8-track. We plugged in the Boston Boston tape as we were leaving Lawton. We did not remove the tape until we returned to Lawton.

It is about a twenty hour round trip drive to Red River when you take into account stopping for gas, food, call of nature breaks. Guys are not like girls we don't all go to pee together, we pee when we need to pee so it makes for multiple stops. The driver was not drinking and the others were so we were definitely on different schedules.

When you take the time spent in the car and some time driving around looking for trouble the Chamber Of Commerce so we could pick up a comprehensive list of liquor stores local charities that need volunteers, we spent around 25 hours in the car during that trip. That works out to listening to that album and each song on it at least
30 times during that vacation.

Flash forward to Texas Jam of 1979 that I have written about before. Headlining was Boston. They were promoting their "Don't Look Back" album but at the time the first album was what everyone wanted to hear. We enjoyed all of their songs but the older stuff was the best. The most memorable thing about their time on the stage in the Cotton Bowl was the fact that they were playing at night and their set included aerial fireworks. They took the stage before Heart and before the rain started. The low part of the trip was driving home with no dash lights to view my speed. And getting lost in downtown Dallas.

Now, 30 years after I watched live Boston for the first time, Dream Girl and I will take a trip to Oklahoma City on June 24th to attend a Boston/Styx concert at the Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheater. We will meet up with some friends and possibly our daughter. I am really looking forward to attending. I think the "No Cameras" deal is really bogus but it's their sandbox.

This particular song is important to me because it is a reminder that with everything you do in climbing the social or corporate ladder, you give up a piece of yourself whether it be your time, your family life or part of your soul.

The lyrics I hear Over and over are 

Cantcha You See There'll Come A Day When It Won't Matter
Come A Day When You'll Be Gone"

During their lifetime the average person has 340,000 waking hours to hug and play with your kids, laugh with your spouse and put forward a kindness toward someone in need. But that is counting hours at work, at the dentist, sitting at traffic lights and cooking supper. If you take away those hours you are left with only about 113,880 hours and if your like me and about half way along in your life that leaves about 57,000 hours to do all those things that really mean something. That's about 6 1/2 years.

It is too late to go back and it is too late for regret.

It will never be too late to begin enjoying and appreciating today.... everyday.

Most of the band is gone now. Tom Scholz and a relatively unknown singer named Tommy DeCarlo will be joined by longtime band member Gary Pihl and Michael Sweet along with some members of Stryper for the 2008 tour. It should be interesting and will probably be another reminder that you can't go home.