Grief
Playlist for Jennifer
Below are some songs I associate with Jennifer, along with a relevant lyric or two. (I included YouTube links if they looked reputable enough to remain available for a while.) They reflect my musical preferences, formed largely as a result of when I grew up. Send me your playlist suggestions and I’ll consider them: [email protected].
“Stranded” by Heart. If you can listen to this and think of Jennifer’s last moments without crying your eyes out, you’re dead inside.
“Standing here helpless, where do I go,
If you leave me alone?
Where do I turn now, if it don’t work out?
As far as I can see,
This isn’t the way that you said it would be.
Don’t leave me like this,
Don’t leave me stranded.
If you walk away now,
You’ll leave me empty-handed.
Don’t leave me like this,
Don’t leave me stranded.”
“Just When I Needed You Most” by Randy Vanwarmer. The second verse—oh my.
“Most every morning I
Stare out the window and I
Think about where you might be.
I’ve written you letters that I’d like to send,
If you would just send one to me.
Now I need you more than I
Needed before and now,
Where I’ll find comfort, God knows,
’Cause you left me
Just when I needed you most.”
“If You Could Read My Mind” by Gordon Lightfoot. I adjust the second verse a bit in my head as follows.
“If I could read your mind, love,
What a tale your thoughts could tell.
Just like a paperback novel,
The kind the drugstores sell.
When I reach the part where the heartaches come,
The hero would be you, and heroes often fail.
I won’t read that book again,
Because the ending’s just too hard to take.”
“Jump” by Van Halen. Because you shouldn’t only remember the bad times. Need a pick-me-up when you remember Jennifer (or anytime)? You can’t do better than Van Halen’s ultimate guitar/synth/joy amalgamation. And, heck, think of the Jump Ship and its best Pilot while you’re at it.
“I get up, and nothing gets me down.
You got it tough;
I’ve seen the toughest around.
And I know, baby, just how you feel.
You got to roll with the punches,
And get to what’s real.”
“Love Walks In” by Van Halen. Why not another from Van Halen (that other lead singer)? Besides…this is pretty darn close to what happened when I remembered Jennifer after almost 40 years.
“Another world, some other time;
You lay your sanity on the line.
Familiar faces, familiar sights;
Reach back, remember with all your might.”
“Learning to Fly” by Pink Floyd. You can’t not think of Pilot.
“Into the distance, a ribbon of black,
Stretched to the point of no turning back.
A flight of fancy on a wind-swept field,
Standing alone, my senses reeled.
A fatal attraction is holding me fast,
How can I escape this irresistible grasp?
Can’t keep my eyes from the circling sky,
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I.”