Does anyone remember these? When I was a kid one of my hobbies was hitting the magazine aisle of the store while my mom shopped for groceries. I would go through Mad, Hits, Guns, and anything else that caught my eye. My favorite was the music magazine that had all the lyrics to the popular songs. I can’t even remember what the name of the magazine was. I remember that you could get free posters. If given the opportunity to bring any one magazine home I would almost always pick that one or anything with Michael Jackson, Prince or the Beach Boys on the cover (I know, wide range of musical interests). I was more interested in the song lyrics than the stories.
Maybe, this is what helped stir me in the path of songwriting. I wouldn’t study how or why songs were written - that would come later. I was enamoured by the lyrics. I was especially curious about the difference of what I was hearing in the song and what the actual lyrics were. A lot of times I was way off and sometimes I was correct. I wrote my first song when I was 14. It was an early cry for help from a teenager going thru puberty and hoping God wasn’t going to lock him out of Heaven. I was going through some stuff that I had been dealing with since I could remember - and my memory only goes back to 3 years old. I see pictures of myself at 1 or 2 - laughing and enjoying myself. By the time I am 6, I can’t decide if the kid in the pictures is me or not.
Nevertheless, my refuge were those lyric books. My curiosity for the true lyrics and spiritual search to heal the pain I was experiencing would lead me to the back of those books - the advertisements.
If you remember those magazines you’ll remember that there were some pretty dark ads in the back - well, scams. I remember the ones that would capture my attention.
“Learn how to cast spells on your enemies.”
“For 20.00, you can receive instructions on how to read minds.”
“Become the most attractive person in the room by learning the powers of attraction - for 19.99.”
I had this desire to be desired. I wanted to be the guy on stage and 1000s of fans chanting my name. I didn’t want to be the guy with the silly haircut, clothes from the cheap section with a generic name brand - glued, not stitched - to the fabric. I wanted to power to read minds, or to change someone’s attitude that made fun of me. I never thought of physical harm to them - but wanted to twitch my nose or give them a look to change their ways. I absolutely hated bullies and wished them more harm than they could ever imagine. I hated school. I had ultimately figured out how to ditch headstart without my parents knowing. I would wave the school bus on and tell my grandmother goodbye - then, would dart to the wooded area across the street and stay there until the bus came by that afternoon. I would memorize the shows in the afternoon - Sesame Street, Electric Company and 3-2-1 Contact. When my mom picked me up I would tell her what I had learned. I was 5 years old and taught myself how to read so that I wouldn’t get into trouble for skipping school. I absolutely hated it.
My wanting to manipulate and control others with the mind control advertisements in the back of those books was inviting....I just didn’t have 20.00 to make it happen.
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