In spite of the song, this isn't a reflection on lost loves or childhood romance. It's actually about best friends. The reason I posted "For the Longest Time" isn't because of the song's wonderful, beautiful lyrics, but rather because of the time period it represents in my growing up years. Junior High was a rather idyllic time for me; we were growing up, and unfolding the mysteries of post-childhood. It was great!
My best friend had the coolest living quarters I could have ever conceived. He lived in a house with a huge upstairs, part of which served as his bedroom and the other part of which was converted into a pool hall plus pinball machine play room. It was great. I seem to recall that we spent hours and hours trying to become the pool sharks our fathers and grandfathers had been. I will only speak for myself when I say I don't think I came close. It was another twenty years before I learned how to jump balls and put a little English on the cue. Even now, I just mostly shoot hard and hope something somewhere goes in.
We did lots of great funny stuff together. There were the prank phone calls to Wilma asking for Fred; and to old Thelma Hodges, who was just a little off her rocker. We actually had her convinced that we were her long lost boyfriend from sixty years ago, and that we were coming for a visit. The funniest part was when we told her to call a certain number (Wilma's) and ask for us by the name Fred.
There was the only fight I nearly got into, because I stepped between my friend and a wanna be tough guy. Who knows why I did it?!? I wasn't a tough guy, I didn't want to fight, and my friend could pretty much take care of himself. But I put myself in the middle and hopefully prevented something really ugly from happening.
There were the two girls--best friends--that we chased because we were best friends and did everything together. We both caught them, oddly enough, although I have to admit that he definitely knew what to do after that. I needed help. Lots of help.
And it was my best friend who provided that help when I actually needed it. He coached me with the asking, the hand-holding, the kissing, the right stuff to say--at least what we thought was the right stuff to say. Looking back now it was probably pretty stupid. But hey, he was my best friend; I wasn't going to question the free advice he was giving.
Remember all the movies we watched over and over and over again...until we could quote them all from start to finish. No Time for Sergeants. Back to the Future. Return of the Jedi. Remember babysitting for my cousins? Or learning to drive a stick? Or trying to teach me to ride a motorcycle?
What about the trips did we took together? I remember the youth trip to Eureka Springs and playing farkle the whole way. There was the camping trip to the Rockies; we slept in the back of the Hippie Van...and ate so many beans that witnesses claim a green haze rolled out out when we opened the door in the morning. Our second camping trip was the one where we took the dirt bikes and four wheelers...the one where I crashed into his dirt bike with my four wheeler, broke it into a thousand pieces, and then ran over him...leaving tire tracks on his back. Fun times!
And it was in his attic pool room, while we were shooting pool with our Dads, that I first heard the song. That was back in the day when everyone still listened to FM radio, and recorded their favorite songs onto cassette using the latest HiFi system. His Dad was into oldies music. And don't think in terms of what is called oldies today; I don't really appreciate oldies stations playing music from the '80s. So what we were listening to was from the '50s and '60s, from when our parents were kids. But I remember the DJ making a comment about a request that had been made...for a song that wasn't old, but fit in with the oldies style.
That was when I heard "For the Longest Time" for the first time. And I've never forgotten it. It is certainly a great, and one of my favorite, love songs. But I can't hear it without remembering where I heard it first. Shooting pool with my best friend.
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This posted is dedicated to some guys I used to know, and some that I know still. Hope you all know how much I still appreciate the "best-friendship" we shared, even after all these years. Ed. Darrell. Kirk. Bryan. Brian. Kade. Steven. Carey. Bill. Thanks.
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