Song Stories: Not Too Soon

When Wil and I started the This Wreckage ‘zine over 30 years ago now, the idea is that we would have people submit material that we would throw in each issue as is and put it out to the world.  What we didn’t realize going in is that most people do not want to actually share things like that.  We struggled in finding material to achieve our albeit ambitious goal of a monthly issue. 

However, in a small way, I’d like to float out a similar request we used to do every issue, but with more of a singular focus.  I am hoping that anyone who reads this would be willing to send some kind of story of a certain song that means something to them.  This could mean a short story, an essay, a drawing, a photograph, a poem, a few words, I don’t know.  One of my favorite things is to tie music to pretty much every waking minute of my life.  It’s a problem really.  There are hundreds of songs that evoke a lot of emotions for me for a variety of reasons based on their being nearby at the time.  I absolutely love hearing and reading other people’s stories along these lines.  I don’t care the genre or the artist, or my personal history, if any, with the song, I find these stories endlessly fascinating.

I’m hoping to encourage any and every one who might be willing to send some of their stories to me via messenger, or via email: tangledrec@hotmail.com.  I would like to share them here, on this site, if given the permission.

Please ask any questions you may have.

I'll start:

Not Too Soon

Sometime during the summer of 1992, I found myself at an impromptu gathering during a sunny afternoon out in the forests in the Otis / Rose Lodge west of my home town of Lincoln City.  I don’t remember the circumstances surrounding this, but a few of my childhood friends were there, along with a few older people who knew through school growing up, as well as a few younger ones.  I vividly remember the environment.  It was incredibly relaxed and comfortable.  I remember The Cult’s third album Electric was playing quietly and it sounded good to me, even though I remember hating the album when it was new.  I was never a Cult fan, but them overtly trying to sound like AC/DC bothered me.  It was later that I truly began to appreciate its singled-mindedness.  I remember hearing it at a music venue between an opening band and the headliner one time and it sounded like the best album ever made!

That afternoon / early evening I had fun being a stupid goofball with my old friends and getting to know some of the others that I didn’t know very well previously.  Even though we were all young.  It felt very adult.  We were all drinking beer, but no one to excess, or making a show of it, the music was quiet, the conversations were about life and felt non-judgmental, and all was calm.  I remember thinking to myself that I liked this.  All of my anxiety floated away, I felt accepted, the dark fog of the previous year had faded some, and I was beginning to sense possibilities again.  At that time, I had confirmed that I was going to returning to college.  It was a dawning of new beginnings and this was what being an adult felt like.

Of course, school that fall didn’t work out, my health went south again, I never saw many of those people again, all kinds of weird drama wound through my head making me feel like I was constantly on an emotional roller coaster, one tinged with a constant heartbreak and a strange desperation.  Normal stuff.  Not very adult.  I guess that just comes with age, not a state of mind. 

At any rate, that very adult and way too brief gathering ended while the sun was still out.  I will never forget climbing into my car, and driving home toward the sunset.  I had the windows down and the stereo blasting Throwing Muses’ “Not Too Soon.”  The song was so tight and sparkly and sounded so amazing at that moment.  I remember feeling genuinely good! 

Throwing Muses had always been hit and miss with me, so I hadn’t purchased any of their music since their first album.  I had thrown “Not Too Soon” onto a mixtape after I had found it on one of those Sire Records label samplers they released back in those days.  Not only is the song super catchy and bright, but I will always remember it for that pleasant moment in time.  Even the music video harkens to that day, as it was shot in a barn.  It looks and feels like the scene of that gathering.  The lyrics are a mystery to me.  Seems to be a kiss off to some older dude who plays with the hearts of young women, so no, I do not identify with it on that level, but it may be the first time I truly realized how much I love a good pop tune and this one is addictive.  I never get tired of it and it always makes me think of that long ago evening.

Throwing Muses "Not Too Soon" 1991