The Melancholy Connection Of Music
Gerry Rafferty, Right Down the Line
This is one of a handful of songs that instantly spells me through a melancholy connection to when I first started to notice music that was outside of my Mom and grandparent’s influence.
This style of music, soft rock, would have never been played at my Mom’s or grandparent’s home. They only allowed classical and opera. But in 1978 we happened to spend a summer at my maternal great-grandfather Francis Strang’s cabin in a small mountain community of 3,400 people in California called Forest Falls. And we spent a lot of time in breakfast diners, restaurants, and saloons, where people played the jukebox.
People tend to play their favorite song on a jukebox, and this style of music was played over and over by the adults while me and my brother played pinball or pool or ate food or just ran around. And that’s how this music sauntered into my ears. And it’s been in my heart ever since.
