45RPM “The Darkening of the Light” Concrete Blonde

Where I match a song to a specific memory.

Most of my music tastes in high school ran to hair metal bands, but Concrete Blonde was the one group I listened to that could be considered “college radio material.”*  I have  a lot of memories of Concrete Blonde, but for some reason, I associate this song with two girls whose names have been lost to time.  They were a year older than me.  Both of them were drama chicks, so I found them somewhat annoying in that hyper drama chick way.  But they also seemed incredibly sophisticated, girls who drank coffee in coffee shops, who had read Gurtrude Stein and possibly understood her, who had figured out how to drink at parties without getting drunk.  As seniors, they edited the high school’s literary magazine and probably went to colleges like Oberlin, or Brown.  At least they seemed as if they did.  One was somewhat tall and willowy, with long brown hair.  Once she wore a dancer’s leotard to school with a long broomstick skirt.  The leotard exposed her long, thin back almost to her waist and had me wondering if I could pull off such a style.  The other one was a similar height, with curly hair and small eyes that seemed to be narrowed as if she was constantly processing the happenings around her.  I think she must have sung this song at a talent show.  I wonder what’s become of them both?

*College radio.  It was a phrase used a lot when I was in high school, but I never hear it now. Why is that?

3 thoughts on “45RPM “The Darkening of the Light” Concrete Blonde”

  1. Is one of them Audra M-something? The curly haired one…

    Of course my Smilee pop ears were not really a fan of much other than Top 40 with some old school choral music, Enya and TMBG tossed in for good measure. I am sure I heard Concrete Blond when we were together. I don't seem to recall this song…

  2. Man, you are good. I think it was Audra something. I could just get out a yearbook and look, but that involves driving to my Aunt's house and unearthing the yearbooks from the trunk. So that's as far as we are getting with that.

  3. I never even heard of Concrete Blonde until well into my adulthood, when I was living in Portland. I don't listen to them much any longer, but I've always really liked this song.

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