Chapter 4: U2 Can Dance with Abandon

You know how a particular song or album can take you right back to a certain moment
in time in your life where you can almost smell the sweetness or taste the
bitterness of it. I've got U2's Joshua Tree crankin with the volume
as high as it will go, coming close to drowning out the
neighbor's Latino beats whose bass thumping salsa rhythms make me think
there is always someone knocking on my door (the one I just painted
"Kermit the Frog" green to cover the depressing "baby shit
brown" that was there when I moved in.) Ahhh, U2 (on cassette
tape cause, of course, we didn't have Cd's yet), it's 1987 all over again
inside my head, I'm 15, my family had moved to the Sunshine State again
after fleeing the bloody big snowdrifts of Buffalo, NY. I was happy,
as I am now, listening to Bono's voice strain with rebellious Irish soul.
I was happy. It was a fresh start, in a warm place, the world was at my
feet, I knew what I wanted to do with my life and what college to attend to
get there, I had friends, and I danced with abandon to U2 as I watched MTV in
the livingroom.
..."But I still haven't
found what I'm looking for..."
Then I met the boy next
door, Paul, he introduced me to all kinds of new music, The Cure, The Smiths, Depeche
Mode, and love. Ahhh, first love, I thought I had found what
I had been looking for. I married this boy at 18 and 7 years later I
wasn't happy anymore. Luckily, it hadn't kept me from accomplishing my
goals in life, I just got sidetracked is all. So once again it was a new
beginning and I started my dream job working with sea turtles on an island
in the as yet, (at that time) "Undiscovered" Florida Panhandle.
...Interject a driving drum beat
here and scream "Bullet the Blue Sky" at the top of your
lungs ..."there's a man breathing thru a saxaphone & thru
the walls ya hear the city groan"--place sliding guitar lick
here--"and outside its America, America"...
Did I tell you I had a crush
on "The Edge" (U2's bassist) before I met Paul. Anyways, I
was happy again.
..."With or without you,
with or without you, uhuh, I can't live with or without you..."
U2 was right again--I met the
second love of my life, I won't name any names, he knows who he is, and I
couldn't live with or without him. Funny how your mind works as you
listen to the soothing sounds of music. Most people never really hear the meaning behind the songs words, never dance with abandon--I
mean blackened barefeet kicking up the sandy floor, grinding hips, lit
cigarette butts, & broken beer bottles between you calloused toes, floral
calico-print sundress floating dangerously high with every twirl in the
moonlight, hair flying in your face like a mermaid's locks in a swift current,
arms outstretched and flying on the warm breeze of a starry mid-summers night,
feeling the rhythms, the reverberations, the bass laid bare over the 7 foot
tall woofers of the live band that go right thru to your calcium-deprived
bones, you close your eyes and the writhing, sweaty bodies around you melt away
and you wander about lost in a trance-like state alone on the dancefloor, then
a hand gently reaches for yours and you look into your partners green eyes,
smile, and go back into that place where your cheeks are flushed, your
breathing is labored, your thighs ache, your ears are ringing, and you swear
you're gonna drop, but then the next song begins, & you don't.
You just keep dancing. I guess that's how it is with relationships
too. I've been lucky enough to find
the meaning behind the words and to dance with abandon, twice.
Still, in the backdrop, there's
that squealing harmonica I remember so well, ..."I was thirsty & you
wet my lips, you, I've waited for you, you, you set my desire, I trip through
your wires, Woa, Yeah!..."
Well, I've sat here long enough
writing. I've gotta go dance. Always know, U2 can dance with
abandon, like nobody's watching, at least once in your lifetime folks, even if
you have nowhere to do it but in your own livingroom!