Nostalgic Music Month Day 10

Bruce Springsteen by Jon Hilton

It would be hard to think of nostalgia and music for me without including Bruce Springsteen. For many of the formative years of my life, the music of the E Street Band punctuated the activities and defined many of the moments.  Even though I have never raced cars in the streets, or even been to Atlantic City, there is a message in the music that a kid from Maine could definitely relate to and find comfort in. Growing up, I listened to Bruce as I fell asleep many nights, to the dismay of my brother who I shared a room with. The people I shared these times with are very special to me and always will be.

1. Rosalita– This song reminds my of my own Rosalita, we were the best of friends and in a world where most people suck, it was good to have one who was awesome to hang out with and have fun. There were many nights we would listen to Bruce Springsteen, sing, laugh and just enjoy being alive. Those nights with my Rosalita are bright memories and I think of her now whenever I hear this song and wonder why I made the mistakes I did. Rosalita is still in my heart and always will be.  “Someday we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny…..”

2. Hungry Heart– When it comes to decisions in life, I think sometimes we make choices in the moment and we don’t see the long game. I was never good at expressing how I felt, and when feelings I didn’t understand came into my heart, I shut down. The whole thing, I would just avoid the situation. Not the best coping mechanism. Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowing. I took a wrong turn and I just kept going. Too many times this has been the case as it was with Rosalita.

3. Atlantic City-There is something magical about the Nebraska album that resonated with me and still does to this day. The desperation in life that a person can feel and the hope of a new day.  The message of this song is exemplary of the quiet desperation filled with hope that I had as a young man and still do today. Oh, everything dies, baby, that’s a fact
   But maybe everything that dies some day comes back.  

4. Spirit in the Night– There are many times that the spirits in the night remind me of. I knew Hazy Davy and we used to drink Black Label and talk about what life would bring, even though we really had no idea beyond the day we were in.  Rosalita is always a prominent memory from this song because of the many times we spent together just talking about life. Again we had no idea what was in store, it was all ahead of us then. Now not so much.  Spirit in the night (all night), in the night (all night)
   Stand right up and let her shoot through me.

1. Racing in the Street– I have never raced a car in the streets, but as a metaphor, this song captures how I feel about life. People have dreams and over time many of them have been forgotten echoes of who we used to be. Life has a way of making you forget your dreams sometimes as obligations and expectations replace those dreams. It is important to remember that it isn’t too late to do what you dream of, even if that is just racing in the streets.   Some guys they just give up living
   And start dying little by little, piece by piece, Some guys come home from work and wash up, And go racin’ in the street………

Honorable mention- Thunder Road, Born To Run, Born in the USA, Badlands, Jungleland, Dancin’ in the Dark, I’m on Fire, Human Touch, Brilliant Disguise, The River, Because the Night, No Surrender, The Rising, Prove it All Night, The Promised Land, Backstreets

 Alanis Morissette by Mike Martin

Today is a day to discuss Irony. What’s irony? Thanks to Alanis Morissette-Jon Hilton, My Spiritual Advisor, and I talk about ‘it” on the rare occasion when we have nothing else to discuss. Isn’t it “Ironic” , don’t you think.

Alanis Morissette is a Canadian American alternative rock singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actress. She was born June 1, 1974. In 1995, she released “Jagged Little Pill” which sold more than 33 million records, and more importantly, she gained me as a lifelong fan

Her best work came when she played God in “Dogma”, a 1999 American fantasy comedy film, written and directed by Kevin Smith, who stars along with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, and Janeane Garofalo. . I have always thought that God is a female. This movie proves it! -Is that ironic? I’m not sure.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary “irony” is “a figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used”

Let’s face it, the irony is a confusing concept. I guess “Ironic” isn’t technically ironic, but the verses are rich with situational ironies-defined as “the state of affairs or event(s) that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects to happen”.

An old man turned ninety-eight

He won the lottery and died the next day.

This circumstance is situationally ironic-Jon Hilton-you really must think!

“Ironic” was Morissette’s highest ranking hit reaching number four on the US Hot 100 chart on April 13, 1996. Jagged Little Pill was only expected to generate enough money for Morissette to make a follow-up album, but the all changed with the success of the album’s first single, “You Oughta Know”–a raunchy tribute to an ex-lover–a much easier concept to understand than irony, I really do think!

And I’m here, to remind you

Of the mess you left when you went away

Party-on folks, and if you have any questions, drop us a line and please partake in #OctoberNostalgicMusicMonth and while you are at it take a trip to Greenville, Maine-I understand the foliage is majestic this time of year!

#OctoberNostalgicMusicMonth #visitGreenville