of 100, a smile of recollection
before our latest excursion to SF, i cleaned off my old iPod shuffle playlist and opted for some nonconventional tunes that normally don’t get much air time these days. i happened to finish my compilation right at 100 songs, all by different artists, save for two songs each from michael jackson and no doubt.
only making it through the list once during our trip, i’ve continued to listen to this lineup on the bus to and from work this week. and today, a nostalgic chord struck when a particular tune hit my ears. the song, “life in a northern town.” the artist, dream academy. well, this version is revamped a bit*, eurotrash style. and that is exactly where i heard it first, circa fall 1998. ok, not exactly europe—but let it be known that year europe did open my ears to cher’s i believe and the vengaboys’ legendary hit we like to party.
the place was london, england, during the last week or so of my semester abroad at regent’s college in regent’s park. (i honestly hope someday one of my long-lost classmates from that semester googles some portion of that sentence and finds me. because 1) i can’t find anyone nor do i remember many names and 2) it honestly would be a nice surprise to hear from a random voice from days gone by.)
the day i heard this odd techno-esque version of “northern town” was a peculiar day all around. or at least, a quirky lunch hour in the cafeteria. we arrived to see a bit of caribbean flare, decorations, food, and a man in a clawfoot bathtub filled with baked beans. this isn’t some acid trip gone awry, friends, because i’ve never touched the stuff. a synthesized dream academy wailing in the background, the man who served me slices of pizza the last 16 weeks is now topless (naked?) in a tub full of beans. and you better believe he donned a shower cap and had a back brush in hand to complete the look.
why baked beans? why the caribbean theme? in london? why dream academy? seriously, did some college administrators hit the pub a bit early that day when thinking of ways to send off that semester’s students? (the pub was literally across the hall from the cafeteria, which made imbibing for happy hour quite convenient.) whatever the occasion, and maybe i knew at the time and it made complete sense, but it obviously made an impression on me.
such an impression in fact, that i giggled to myself on the bus. and then when i realized that i never told the tale to the boy, i knew that gem had to be busted out with the accompanyment of dream academy. i imagine i told the story with more charisma then words can describe here since i added in side stories about the cafeteria workers competing for all the girls’ affections (baked bean guy called us “dahling,” his friend called us “baby”), and i even opened a drawer to find a compilation disc i made for myself and my travel companion consisting of songs from those 5 months.
these are memories that i’ve carried with me for nearly 10 years, and surely i hope to not soon forget.
*what little research i did, led me to find that a person/group by the name of dario g remixed the original song. and after listening to it again, i realized they added steel drums only reinforcing that caribbean thing. bitchin’!