Sunday, June 17, 2007

The Way We Were…

…as opposed to the way we are aren’t.

Harbor Beach, Michigan. June 17, 1978.

In the beginning…during our courtship… The Second Mrs. Pennington and I spent a lot of time at this little coffee shop not far from her apartment in Musashi-Koganei (a Tokyo suburb). Like most Tokyo coffee shops at the time, this one had a really excellent, state-of-the art stereo system and a huge collection of albums. Patrons were encouraged, and I mean encouraged…it was almost demanded…to let the owners know their preferences in music. It was customary for the shop to play an entire album side of whichever artist you requested. Early on…within hours, if not minutes…TSMP and I discovered we both had a mutual love and admiration for Neil Young. And the help at “our” coffee shop learned this pretty quickly, as well. From about our third or fourth visit it became standard procedure for the help to put Neil’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” (side one) on as soon as we walked in, no questions asked. With big smiles all around, especially from us.

So…in celebration of what was, what could have been, and to a much lesser extent, what IS…here’s “Cinnamon Girl” (side one, cut one) from that album.

Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young With Crazy Horse

Lyrics:

I wanna live
with a cinnamon girl
I could be happy
the rest of my life
With a cinnamon girl.

A dreamer of pictures
I run in the night
You see us together,
chasing the moonlight,
My cinnamon girl.

Ten silver saxes,
a bass with a bow
The drummer relaxes
and waits between shows
For his cinnamon girl.

A dreamer of pictures
I run in the night
You see us together,
chasing the moonlight,
My cinnamon girl.

Pa sent me money now
I'm gonna make it somehow
I need another chance
You see your baby loves to dance
Yeah...yeah...yeah.

Happy Anniversary.

(PS: The white tux was her idea, Lou…not mine. Being the wise old man I was (hah!), I protested weakly but gave in. I knew which side my bread was buttered on — then, as now. I have an immediate grasp of the obvious.)
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4 comments:

  1. Bag Blog18 June, 2007 06:02

    I'm tellin ya white tuxes were all the rage in the late 70's. Wow, you two look so young - and you had the same hair style. Someone pointed out that same thing about Toby and me. I love the coffee shop story. It is a little odd that you and TSMP loved Neil Young and he sang at my wedding reception. I wish I had a picture of him with the band, but I was not the one taking pictures that day. Several friends took pictures of him - maybe some day I will hunt one down.

    You are right - TSMP has not changed much over the years - she is still a handsome woman.

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  2. Buck18 June, 2007 09:20

    Lou said: It is a little odd that you and TSMP loved Neil Young and he sang at my wedding reception.

    Great minds, and all that!! ;-)

    And...she was young (22), I wasn't so very, at 33. Interesting observation about the hair, too. That's the first time anyone's mentioned that, Lou. That was a point in time when my hair was still red, as opposed to very light blond, as it is now. TSMP has gone red these days, thanks to Clairol, and she wears it pretty well, too.

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  3. Laurie19 June, 2007 12:50

    Wow, memory lane. Someone used to call me the name of that song.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Buck19 June, 2007 13:37

    Laurie said: Someone used to call me the name of that song.

    Is there a story in that comment? DO tell...

    ReplyDelete

Just be polite... that's all I ask.

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