45RPM: Brown-Eyed Girl

Where I match a song to a specific memory.
My first job was in a tiny restaurant where they served good food and lots of it.  I worked Saturdays, alternating waiting tables with washing dishes.  My companion in work was a boy my own age, S.  We were acquaintances, people with things in common who never really became close friends, though I liked him.  He was smart and funny and a good conversationalist. In fact, at the end of high school, I surveyed the scene and decided that of all our classmates, he would be the one I would marry, if I had to marry someone.  Partway through our acquaintance on the job, he decided to reject who he had been and he foraged a new self, changing his name, quitting wrestling, getting rid of the music he was leaving behind.  Instead, he starting going by his middle name K., focused more on the art he created and he pledged his musical troth to Mudhoney and other bands we were then calling “Alt.”  To me, the reinvention seemed unnecessary, as he seemed the same as he ever was, but he said things were much better this way.  His devotion to his new alternative way of life was so complete I was surprised one day that he commented how much he liked Van Morrison’s  song “Brown Eyed Girl.”  The song was played in heavy rotation at the time, thanks to being featured in movies and it was impossible to escape if the radio was set to the oldies station–they played it seemingly ever hour.  It seemed so run-of-the-mill for my very unique coworker that I forever linked the two of them together.

2 thoughts on “45RPM: Brown-Eyed Girl”

  1. Hmmm… I am trying to remember this boy. The extra anonymity of this post makes it extra fun. I'm hoping we Hut it while we are in Boise. That is my desire for our brunch. I mean, we could go to the new hipster places, or go to the memory filled, extra fun, always have old men BS-ing and egg-salad sandwiches, Galaxy Hut!

    Wow! I completely digressed. I, of course (only because it is main stream and lovable), love this song. though I will acknowledge that all of the songs on the Moon Dance album are much more interesting and complex than this one. And truth be told, I have that whole album as a CD and on my iTunes. The same cannot be said of Brown-eyed girl.

  2. I love Van Morrison. I find his voice very comforting. I particularly love this song. I too have a strong memory associated with it. My mom had taken a friend and I to a minor league baseball game in South Bend. On the way back, this song came on the radio. I remember singing along with it at the top of our lungs. It makes me smile to think of it.

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