go ahead let your hair down

I’m sure you had no way of knowing this, but I’ve been looking for a new theme song. I’ve had many theme songs over the years and, unless you had the misfortune to have been one of my roommates in the early seventies and heard me playing Roberta Flack’s Do What You’ve Gotten Do ad nauseam, you’ve probably never hear me singing one of them. Every so often the music in me will go on hiatus but I don’t notice it until months go by and that depression sets in that haunts a soul without music. If I can remember that it’s the lack of music, and not life itself, I can recover fast. I pull out a bunch of old albums and sit in the dark listening until I’m filled with happiness again. I do mean albums too, not tapes or CDs or whatever else is current and shiny.

I’m telling you all of this because I heard a song that I believe qualifies as my next theme song. It's not a jaunty as one of my earliest song, Windy, but I changed the word to Jackie. If you can remember where you were when you learned that President Kennedy had been shot, then you probably remember this song. “Who’s walkin’ down the streets of the city." Don't judge me, I was very young when the song came out! But truth be told, I wasn't one to smile at every person I met even then, that was Windy, not me.

A few nights back I saw this cute little thing being introduced on one of the late night talk shows. Normally I wouldn’t have paid any attention to her because I didn’t expect to know her music, I’m not up on current tunes. But this young woman started singing and I recognized a refrain that I’d heard recently and liked. The exact same thing happened last night on yet another show but this time I noted her name, Corinne Bailey Rae. After the show ended I looked her up online.

If the internet had been around when I was younger I would have been the palest child coming back after summer vacation. I just love that I can get immediate answers to the stuff I used to write down to investigate during my once weekly library visits. Yes, I’ve always been curious, it just wasn’t immediately satisfied in the past.

I bought the CD today. The name of the song is Put Your Records On, what could be more fitting?

I need to spend some time learning the words to my new theme song now. I’ll leave you with a few parting words that are in the lyrics...

I hope you get your dreams, just go ahead let your hair down.