Every day from now until Spring, I will play a song from each year from 1940-2020. I’ll also write a little bit about the song and why I chose it to represent that year.
1965 was a big year in not only my life but my family’s life as well. My brother Devin was born in March of that year (as well as two of my cousins). One of the greatest blessings in my life is my brother. He is my only sibling and we are only a year and a half apart so essentially grew up together. We have all the same relatives, our memories for the first 18yrs of our life are almost identical. Our memories are so entwined we almost speak in shorthand. Who else can I have a conversation that goes something like “I was over at that place by that thing where we met that one time that had that funny dog”‘ and still have the other person know exactly what I was talking about. We don’t even finish funny call back-references, “He’s like that one guy in that movie” it’s almost like a second language. there are a few people I am like that with but not very many at all, and no one like Devin.
I am very grateful that Devin is a part of my life, my childhood would have been a lot less joyful. It was so nice to have somewhere there to say ‘You’re alright. I’m going through it too,’ or at the very least to say ‘Yeah it’s kind of messed up, but I’m going through it too’ There is no amount of money in the world that can buy the peace that comes from not being alone. I just didn’t have a ‘stand-in’ brother. I was blessed with a highly intelligent, thoughtful and very funny brother. I can honestly say that even if Devin and I weren’t related and he was just someone I knew I still would very much want him as a friend in my life.
For the song I selected, I picked the Number One Song on the week Devin was born. Kind of beats “Blue Velvet” but Devin always seems to top me. He shares a birthday with Elton John and Aretha Franklin. All I got was Scott Baio and Neil Cavuto. Figures.
