I remember exactly where I was when I first heard Life in a Northern Town by The Dream Academy. How many songs can you say that about? Not many for me. Like, one. This one.
I was 15 years old, visiting my cousins in a Chicago suburb in the dead of winter. I mean dead. Of winter. As is freakin' cold. We had just watched an indoor high school soccer game and were waiting in the lobby to meet some of the players, who were friends of my older cousin, to "cruise the town" and find some food.
This song came on over the intercom system as we were bundling up to meet the cold, and it stuck. Understatement, considering I'm recalling this 27 years later. 27 years later..... sorry, just had to look at that statement again..... It was one of the first times I was out late with older kids (who were driving!), with nary an adult in sight. I felt like I was all grown up, at last.
I adore this song. Not only because it conjures up a perfect winter memory from my transition out of childhood, it also makes me appreciate my place on this earth...despite the cold.
And though he never would wave goodbye
You could see it written in his eyes
As the train rolled out of sight, bye-bye
