a walk on the wild side

Lou Reed died yesterday at age 71.  I think of John.

Funny how music gets associated with people.  And usually it has nothing to do with lyrics.

My first boyfriend was Bob.  We met in college in 1970.  I even transferred from BU to Tufts to be near him, and this is after we’d broken up for the first time.  Today, he lives in Napa Valley with his wife (his two kids are grown) and we are still in touch. I remember college and I remember Bob. I associate him with Simon and Garfunkel’s iconic album, Bridge Over Troubled Water. 

While living in Boston in 1974, I met (and later lived with) Don.  Him I followed to Chicago, also after we had broken up.  We are still good friends, despite geography (he recently moved to Arizona after many years of living in LA).  Don introduced me to Phil Ochs, whom I'd never heard of.  Och's Pleasures of the Harbor album, released in 1967, became the music we most often listened to.  

Years late, I met Eric.  It was the summer of 1989.  While he introduced me to Talking Heads, and I grew to love their music, it is Tracy Chapman’s self-titled album that most reminds me of Eric.  When I hear Baby Can I Hold You, I am immediately brought back to the first few months with Eric, and crisp fall air.

In between Don and Eric there was a long, tempestuous relationship with John.  I met him in 1981 when we both worked at Gillette. John introduced me to the music of Lou Reed.  I have no explanation for why I wasn’t a fan before then.  Reed’s 1972 album Transformer seemed to always be on my stereo.  

My favorite song, and the one that most reminds me of John, is a strange little song that gets little airplay called Make Up. It’s about a transvestite getting ready to go out.  Admittedly, this is an unlikely song to associate with an exciting affair, but there was and is something about that song I find sexy.

                                   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyTaFXw19mw

Today the world mourns a great musician.