This is about three "teen tragedy" rock songs that were popular when I was in the fourth grade.
Sometimes the songs of youthful heart break
Extend to the unthinkable.
Strange how we remember them,
the vinyl tragedies of the fourth grade.
Oh where, oh where can my baby be?
My first experience with
The Last Kiss came while
riding in my parents' car
to pick up my sister from ushering
on Girl Scout night at the Players’ community theater.
What other sadness and shock
from the singer's shattered life
was lost to us as we sang along,
Though my mother thought it a gruesome thing.
The opera star had A Secret,
He was the leader of the pack.
A girl group in chiffon at the end
came on and he came out like the Wild One.
Opera and rock end in
tragedies and so it was here,
Look out! Look out! Look out!
The leader staggered out, his arm in a sling.
Dickie Lee's date with Laurie
Made me cry, but I didn't want
to tell anyone such a sad tale
of dancing with a ghost who went away
on her birthday would do that.
A sweater on a too young tombstone.
Strange things happen in this world.
Yes, those songs still resonate with their clear messages of heartbreak and loss. We felt like it was happening to us, just knowing that Mack the Knife was back in town was scary and realistic, especially in those agonizing teenage years when finding love was hard to get.
Wisdom, peace and Bliss.
In reverent appreciation,
Andre Emmanuel Bendavi ben-YEHU
A poem that brings back memories is a keeper.
Ron