Flashback Friday: Musical Memory
"When memories mix with music, they can create an explosive concoction of emotions. They become a potion to transport us from faded to vivid, from far away to yesterday. "
And yes, I just quoted myself. Welcome to a new low on this blog. Anyway. Moving along...
After shuffling through some of my sharpest musical memories in preparation for this week's prompt, I concluded, not surprisingly, that most of the songs and memories can be tied back in some way to Larry. Like the time in high school when we broke up were "on a break", and he gave me a mixed tape with Sinead belting "Nothing Compares to You". Or the many times in college when were still on a break and I would tear up every time I heard Depeche Mode exhort me to "Enjoy the Silence". There are about a dozen like that, but I will spare you.
(Because seriously, I can only write so many times about this love saga before you want to say, "Gag me with a spoon.")
So today, I will instead take you with me to 1985, to florescent lighting and an orange carpeted balance beam towering three feet over a squishy old mat. To a boom box atop a roller cart, perched along the edge of the royal blue square where the 11 year old girls like me lined up for tumbling runs.
Whenever "Conga" came on, it didn't matter if we were in the middle of practicing compulsories. You simply couldn't hear that song and not modify your chassé just a little bit. We'd add extra head nods and hand waves. And when we were really living on the edge, we'd scrap the routine altogether and start dancing like crazies with cartwheels thrown in.
And in the interest of my pride, I'm not going to tell you how long it was before I realized the lyrics were not, "C'mon chickabody baby do that Conga." Chickabody. Seriously.
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