Nostalgic Music Month Day 18

1985 By Jon Hilton

Our identity is defined by our experience and no other year in my life was more important to my development as a person than 1985. It was a year of change, learning, tragedy, triumph and ultimately the first real push into the person that I became. Looking back we tend to forget much of the mundane and negative and cherry pick the positive memories. For me there is no need to do this about 1985, it was all significant and memorable. Like all other things in my life, there was a soundtrack to that year that brings back the emotions of the era and always allows me to look back in reverence and love for that most formative year.

1. Don’t You Forget About Me– Simple Minds- One of the most shared rites of passage in all people’s lives is the graduation from high school. It was June 13, 1985, when I experienced this. It was the culmination of four years of emotional and mental turmoil. On that day I played in and lost the Western Maine baseball final to Falmouth. We got back in time to

   

   change and the next thing you know, I was graduating. Then we had a project graduation where you stayed up all night at the Boothbay YMCA, followed by a morning tour of Boothbay Harbor, and then a breakfast at the Legion in Damariscotta. It was a long night. One thing that is for sure from four years previous to that day to this one, I have never forgotten the people I shared that experience with. They are timeless and precious.  Tell me your troubles and doubts. Giving me everything inside and out and Love’s strange so real in the dark. Think of the tender things that we were working on……..

2. Trapped – Bruce Springsteen- In that year, USA for Africa was trying to feed the world, and we were naive enough to believe that it would happen. this song reminds me of that spring of 1985 when I was involved in some tragedy. Until today I never really realized how much this song reminds me of that time. Life seems to have a way of hitting you hard sometimes, and how you react to that will define you. If your not careful they can trap you in that moment and keep you there. I like to think that all the people that I cared about then escaped these tangles. Good will conquer evil and the truth will set you free. And I know someday I’ll find the key…….
3. If you Love Somebody Set Them Free– Sting- In 1985, my contemporaries and myself were looking for freedom and the powers that be decided to set us free on the world. This meant that relationships had to change, we all knew this was happening and in order for all people to reach their full potential, they need to be allowed to spread their wings and see what great things they can create. It would be great to keep all people exactly the same, but moments like that are meant to be just moments. They were perfect for their time, but all things must pass on to the next stop on the journey. Our job is to let it go and appreciate the experience we had and the lessons we learned. There are few teachers who are more appreciated than those I knew in 1985.  If you need somebody, call my name. If you want someone, you can do the same. If you want to keep something precious, Got to lock it up and throw away the key.
4. Lay Your Hands On Me– Thompson Twins- This is a song that is very 1985ish. As we worked our way toward the inevitable end of our high school existence, there are so many people that you shared memories

   

   with. Some were longer term and some were just for a short time. All had an impact on me. Sometimes there are situations that you need support and to feel like some people care about you.  When it all comes down to the end, it’s the people that we care about and care about us that define who we are. This little 1985 ditty takes you back to that time and the feeling of being young. Back and forth across the sea. I have chased so many dreams. But I have never felt the grace. That I have felt in your embrace.

5. Money For Nothing– Dire Straits- During the summer of 1985 I worked for one o the best people I ever knew. He made cabinets and I was his faithful assistant. I sanded things like no other.  We used to ride from job to job and listen to music and this song was one of the popular ones because we would have liked some of that money for nothin’.  I also wanted my MTV so this song really had it all.  There was a freedom in this job that I am not sure I have experienced since. We worked hard and got things done, but when the task was accomplished, it was left there and I was allowed to pursue my true passion of that summer which resided in Pemaquid, Maine. I have always been grateful for the lessons I learned that summer about work, people, and life.  And he’s up there, what’s that? Hawaiian noises? Bangin’ on the bongos like a chimpanzee. That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it. Get your money for nothin’ get your chicks for free. We got to install microwave ovens custom kitchen deliveries. We got to move these refrigerators we gotta move these color TV’s.

Van Morrison by Mike Martin- Day 18

Sir George Ivan “Van” Morrison is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and producer, born August 31, 1945. Known as “Van the Man”, he started his professional career as a teenager and continues to record and tour today with an album, Roll with the Punches, just released on September 22, 2017.

Every October, I am ready to listen to my favorite Van Morrison’s song ,  Moondance  -a song that established Morrison as a musical icon and a song that makes me feel incredibly relaxed and confident.

Well, it’s a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
‘Neath the cover of October skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And I’m trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
And all the night’s magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush

My other favorite Van Morrison song was released as a single in mid-June 1967 (just about the time I was turning one) and reached number ten on

the popular music charts in the United Sates.  Brown Eyed Girl (Live) is a true classic and still remains one of the most requested songs, on the radio and at weddings, in the United States today, 50 years after its release.

Hey, where did we go
Days when the rains came ?
Down in the hollow
Playing a new game
Laughing and a-running, hey, hey
Skipping and a-jumping
In the misty morning fog with
Our, our hearts a-thumping

Please, have a wicked Wednesday day, 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! #visitGreenville

#OctoberNostalgicMusicMonth #visitGreenville