[2021-03-23] Songs by the decade
Today, I was leafing through a book my son gave me a few years ago called 642 Things to Write About. One of the writing prompts was this: "If each decade of your life was represented by a pop song, what would they be?" I was intrigued by the exercise.
1960s
I was born in 1966. Understandably, I don't recall much about the '60s, which took me from birth to age 3. I imagine that my life was simple, innocent and full of promise, so I chose the Rolling Stones' She's a Rainbow, released in 1967, to represent the '60s.
She comes in colours everywhere
She combs her hair
She's like a rainbow
Coming, colours in the air
Oh, everywhere
She comes in colours
1970s
The '70s were all about elementary school, from kindergarten beginning in September 1971 to grade 8 concluding in June 1979. Sacred Heart Elementary School in Lanark village was a tiny school, with about 60 kids across all grades. Multiple grades in one classroom were the norm. When I skipped grade 7, the teacher simply moved my desk from the grade 7 row to the grade 8 row, swelling its ranks from six to seven students.
This decade was also marked by loss: my grandmother (mom's mom), my aunt (dad's sister) and my father all passed away in the early to mid-'70s. It was my first exposure to grief—my own and that of my parents. The moments when I saw one of my parents cry are etched in my memory. For this decade, I've chosen Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird, released in 1973.
If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on now
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see
But if I stay here with you, girl
Things just couldn't be the same
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now
And this bird you cannot change
1980s
The '80s took me through high school (from September 1979 to June 1984) and university (September 1984 to April 1988). I attended Carleton Place High School, where I knew virtually no one, since most students who went to Sacred Heart moved on to Perth and District Collegiate Institute. The choice of high school was a function of bus routes and proximity, so off to CPHS I went. It was daunting to go to a high school where most students were already part of a clique, often dependent on which of the three Carleton Place elementary schools they attended. That experience of not belonging—at least initially—made me forever sensitive to the plight of the outsider. Literally and figuratively, I have always tried to open the circle when someone new arrives.
In some ways, attending university was easier since many people came from afar. In the first few days I attended Carleton University, a fellow student in the School of Journalism noticed that I was on my own and invited me to join her. We remained friends through the four years of the program, and her friends adopted me as their own. I'm forever grateful to her for reaching out to me.
When I searched for one song that would represent the '80s, I thought of Queen's Somebody to Love since the entire decade was dominated by a longing for love and acceptance. But since the song was released in 1976, it didn't qualify. I seized on Journey's Don't Stop Believin', released in 1981 and full of hope that things get better.
Just a small town girl
Livin' in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin' anywhere
Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train goin' anywhere
I will cheat for this decade by choosing a second song. It was one that Chris introduced me to on our third date. It's David Benoit's The Key to You, released in 1988.
Good things will come your way
You'll find a brighter day
All that I can be
All I want to do
Is be the one inside the world
When he finds the key to you
1990s
Chris and I had our first date in December 1989. He moved into my apartment in January 1990, and I was pregnant by June 1990. Shane was born in February 1991 and Melanie in December 1992. Though I was only in my 20s and Chris, in his 30s, we found ourselves on a fast track to establishing a home and family. The only thing we weren't in a hurry for, it would seem, was marriage, which would wait for another 30 years. The '90s were all about family, so I chose Simply Red's For Your Babies, released in 1991.
Her faith is amazing
The pain that she goes through contained in the hope for you
Your whole world has changed
The years spent before seem more cloudy than blue
In many ways your baby's controlling
When you haven't laid down for days
For the poor, no time to be thinking
They're too busy finding ways
And I, you know I'd do most anything you want
Hey I, I try to give you everything you need
I'll see that it gets to you
I don't believe in many things but in you, I do
2000s
If the 1990s were all about family, the 2000s were all about career and learning, including how to lead people in functions that were new to me. Late in the 1990s, I was asked to lead a division as an acting director even though I was relatively young and inexperienced. My boss felt I was ready even if I didn't. But my confidence grew and by 2000, I was appointed as an EX-01 (a level-one executive). In 2008, I competed for and won an EX-02. Natasha Bedingfield's Unwritten, released in 2004, captures the sense of self-belief that I developed over the decade.
I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
2010s
My career accelerated in the 2010s. I became an EX-03 in 2011 and an EX-04 in 2016. But the theme I would focus on for the 2010s is music. Beginning in 2015, Chris and I volunteered each year at Ottawa's Bluesfest, where we had an opportunity to see fantastic artists, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Keith Urban, Air Supply, Bryan Adams, P!nk, the Foo Fighters, Backstreet Boys, Duran Duran, Jethro Tull as well as lesser known artists such as Greta Van Fleet, Beth Hart, Matt Anderson and Julian Taylor. We also volunteered at Cityfolk, where we saw the likes of Van Morrison, David Byrne, Hosier and Michael McDonald. With our children growing older—in fact, my daughter was the first Bluesfest volunteer in the family and encouraged us to follow in her footsteps—Chris and I could once again focus on something that had brought us together as a couple: music. My song for this decade is The Sheepdogs' Feeling Good, released in 2013. We saw The Sheepdogs at Bluesfest in 2019.
Nothing brings me down
With how I feel today
Yeah I'm feelin' good
Oh, like you know I should
Got the pressure beat just like you know I would
Yeah I'm feelin' good
2020s
What can I say about the 2020s? Between January and August 2020, the novel coronavirus dominated my life, to the point that I called it my 18-7 file: 18-hour days, 7 days a week. That all changed on July 29, 2020, when I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. For the past seven months, I've been in a different battle. A fitting song for the first year and a bit of this decade is Ray LaMontagne's We'll Make It Through, released in 2020.
Had our share of the pain
Of the clouds, and the rain
Lean on me, and I'll lean on you
And together, we'll get through
We always do
We always do
Hello, you're scared 'cause you can't see the light
You toss and turn through the night
Holdin' me, and I'm holdin' you
And together, we'll get through
We always do
We always do
We always do
We have to believe that we will make it through. This decade will get better. Lean on me, and I'll lean on you.
