The Way We Were…

…as opposed to the way we are aren’t.

Harbor Beach, Michigan. June 17, 1978.

In the beginning…during our courtship… The Second Mrs. Pennington and I spent a lot of time at this little coffee shop not far from her apartment in Musashi-Koganei (a Tokyo suburb). Like most Tokyo coffee shops at the time, this one had a really excellent, state-of-the art stereo system and a huge collection of albums. Patrons were encouraged, and I mean encouraged…it was almost demanded…to let the owners know their preferences in music. It was customary for the shop to play an entire album side of whichever artist you requested. Early on…within hours, if not minutes…TSMP and I discovered we both had a mutual love and admiration for Neil Young. And the help at “our” coffee shop learned this pretty quickly, as well. From about our third or fourth visit it became standard procedure for the help to put Neil’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” (side one) on as soon as we walked in, no questions asked. With big smiles all around, especially from us.

So…in celebration of what was, what could have been, and to a much lesser extent, what IS…here’s “Cinnamon Girl” (side one, cut one) from that album.

Lyrics:

I wanna live
with a cinnamon girl
I could be happy
the rest of my life
With a cinnamon girl.

A dreamer of pictures
I run in the night
You see us together,
chasing the moonlight,
My cinnamon girl.

Ten silver saxes,
a bass with a bow
The drummer relaxes
and waits between shows
For his cinnamon girl.

A dreamer of pictures
I run in the night
You see us together,
chasing the moonlight,
My cinnamon girl.

Pa sent me money now
I'm gonna make it somehow
I need another chance
You see your baby loves to dance
Yeah...yeah...yeah.

Happy Anniversary.

(PS: The white tux was her idea, Lou…not mine. Being the wise old man I was (hah!), I protested weakly but gave in. I knew which side my bread was buttered on — then, as now. I have an immediate grasp of the obvious.)