Long Walk Home
John Floyd writes:
Bruce Springsteen's "Long Walk Home" is the song I can't stay away from at the moment. My dad was in a hospital on the edge of the part of Memphis where I grew up, a part of town I haven't seen in a long time and that has changed in every way imaginable. I drove there during a work break on Saturday, mostly to see my mom but to also get the lowdown from the doctor. After seeing my dad more or less dead and driving back through town, "Long Walk Home" came up on a comp of stuff I burned just to have in the car (where Beny Moré and Gang of Four are always close friends). I listened to that song all the way back to work, over and over, crying for the first time, losing it completely when the line comes about the town wrapping its arms around you. Jesus, I'm losing it now, just thinking about that line, and the one after it -- nobody goes it alone. Not among the folks here, that's for damn sure. I've been leaning a lot on "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" of late, I guess cos I feel like an insecure and unattractive and unworthy forty-something, but this last week or so, "Long Walk Home" has just obliterated everything else I've wanted to hear, give or take Mable John's "Take Me." Go figure.
Anyway, one more thing, then I'm done: I had to go to the funeral home today to take care of the cremation paperwork. Turns out the funeral home is located in the building that once was my father's favorite restaurant, Monte's, an Italian joint that's been closed for 20-plus years. I'm driving down Summer Avenue, address in hand looking for the home, knowing the neighborhood but none of what's around me, if that makes sense, and when I figure out where I'm at, I think to myself, you've got to be fucking kidding me. The women at the home must've thought I was crazy, looking for the spot where my dad's favorite table used to be.
Found it.
Bruce Springsteen's "Long Walk Home" is the song I can't stay away from at the moment. My dad was in a hospital on the edge of the part of Memphis where I grew up, a part of town I haven't seen in a long time and that has changed in every way imaginable. I drove there during a work break on Saturday, mostly to see my mom but to also get the lowdown from the doctor. After seeing my dad more or less dead and driving back through town, "Long Walk Home" came up on a comp of stuff I burned just to have in the car (where Beny Moré and Gang of Four are always close friends). I listened to that song all the way back to work, over and over, crying for the first time, losing it completely when the line comes about the town wrapping its arms around you. Jesus, I'm losing it now, just thinking about that line, and the one after it -- nobody goes it alone. Not among the folks here, that's for damn sure. I've been leaning a lot on "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" of late, I guess cos I feel like an insecure and unattractive and unworthy forty-something, but this last week or so, "Long Walk Home" has just obliterated everything else I've wanted to hear, give or take Mable John's "Take Me." Go figure.
Anyway, one more thing, then I'm done: I had to go to the funeral home today to take care of the cremation paperwork. Turns out the funeral home is located in the building that once was my father's favorite restaurant, Monte's, an Italian joint that's been closed for 20-plus years. I'm driving down Summer Avenue, address in hand looking for the home, knowing the neighborhood but none of what's around me, if that makes sense, and when I figure out where I'm at, I think to myself, you've got to be fucking kidding me. The women at the home must've thought I was crazy, looking for the spot where my dad's favorite table used to be.
Found it.
Labels: Bruce Springsteen, fathers, Memphis
posted by Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen at 1:31 PM
1 Comments:
Outstanding John,the two you mentioned are also MY favorites from Magic,which I told Stewart Francke was Bruce's best record since 'Darkness',but I was wrong.Not only is it HIS best record,it may be,for my money,the best record EVER made.I don't approach that statement lightly,I'm a rock and roll CAN and WILL change you for the better kind of guy.Your story about these songs,mine as well,go a long way towards making the case that Bruce really nailed it for ALL of us with this one.I was in the cemetary Thanksgiving morning talking to my dad(gone 8 years now)and listened to magic on the way over and the way home.And it WAS a Long Walk Home...it ALWAYS IS.
Post a Comment
<< Home