That Song

I had a song stuck in my head; one from the early 90's that I was guessing had actually been produced in the late 80's. I'd heard it at a skate place in Lubbock where my brother and I accompanied our dad on weekends. Many years later, my friend Dave gave me a CD which had that song on it. Now, I was thinking of it again. I could see the image of the CD in my head, but I just couldn't read the Sharpie label.

Today, as I stood outside the Subway sandwich trailer, I whipped out my iPhone and connected to the local Wi-Fi network. A quick search on Google yielded a group called Micro Chip League. Hmm, I don't remember that name from the CD that Dave gave me a few years ago. Oh well.

Next, I instructed my iPhone to launch the iTunes application, and within seconds, I found the song titled "New York" by Micro Chip League. Within a few seconds of playing the sample, I knew I'd found the right song. After tossing a measly 99 cents, it was mine. In less than 10 minutes, I had a new groove. And this got me thinking…

I can vaguely remember standing in the Target, watching my parents browse the cassette tapes. Back then, Target had fully embraced the styles of the 80's with dark orange accents on everything. If I remember correctly, there were large cubes on pedestals which had cassette tapes arranged in slots around all sides. I don't remember what they were looking for or if they even found it, but I'm pretty certain they weren't shopping together.

Growing up, I remember CDs beginning to line the store shelves, usually in a special shelf along a secluded back row. I'd purchased a few tapes of my own: Bad Company, Clint Black, Def Leppard, and even Alanis Morisette. But that was when ten bucks was a respectable sum in the pocket of a kid, so it may not be that those few tapes are all that I can remember, but all that I actually had.

I remember dad and me hopping between music stores, looking for a John Anderson tape after we'd heard his song, Seminole Wind, playing at the skate place. It sure as hell wasn't ten minutes – but weeks. When we finally found it, we were thoroughly stoked.

Those were the last of the days where, when you heard a song, you had to be sure to memorize the chorus until you had an opportunity to flip through the tapes and CDs at the music store. Mom should remember how she found her Collective Soul tape. I walk up on high, and I stop at the edge..."

No matter how easy music is to access, there will always be "that song" you just can't seem to find. And whether perusing pages and pages of Google or flipping through cases and cases of cassettes, when you finally find the music you want, it's still just as rewarding. Everyone is proud of their music collection.