Entry
One Hundred Seventy.
Tuesday, 2013.07.09, 3:42 AM CST.
"Music
for the Night People" and "What Do Boys Dream?"
Current Mood: Tired.
Current Scent: The remaining traces of Homme de Cafe by Cofci.
This
isn't a post about DJing.
Sometimes
I feel like a man made of memories, nothing more.
Back
when I was much younger - in 1984 or 1985, a few years before I entered
the world of DJing - I discovered a syndicated television program called
Odyssey which came on late at night. In Tulsa, I believe that
it kicked off at 11:00 PM or midnight, and it continued through the
early morning hours. If I'm not mistaken, Odyssey was broadcast
on UHF channel 41 here (possibly 23). The one thing I definitely
remember was the deep male voice charmingly uttering the slogan "Music
for the Night People" as they came out of breaks.
Although
I would have been around 13 years old at the time, I can still remember
seeing Odyssey on occasion on weeknights, when I was finishing homework
after a long night of procrastination or, in one particular instance,
after coming home from the Tulsa State Fair with my parents. Oh,
how I miss those old days.
If
memory serves - and in this case I'm pretty sure it does - Odyssey gave
me my first taste of Depeche Mode, with the video for their 1984 single"People
Are People." I heard that song there a few times, then didn't
hear anything from DM until late 1987 on "New Grooves with Meg
Griffin." That's a story for another time, and in fact, a
story I've told before on this site, probably numerous times.
(In earlier versions of the story, I may have mentioned that I first
saw DM on the USA Network's "Night Flight." I have since
remembered that it was much, much more likely on Odyssey.)
This
isn't a post about Depeche Mode.
You
see, Odyssey also presented me with some much more obscure
artists... artists whose work made an impression with only one viewing
of one video, but whose names escaped me for over a decade, until resources
on the almighty Internet solved those mysteries back in the mid-to-late
1990s.
Two
tracks aside from "People Are People" especially haunted me
from back then: "Mona with the Children," a beautiful
1985 song (with a horribly sad backstory and music video) by Canadian
musician Doug Cameron, and a little-known song by Joan Armatrading called
"What Do Boys Dream?"
 I
would be absolutely shocked if my wife or any of my friends knew the
Armatrading song. By "any of my friends," I mean ANY
of my friends, anywhere. Joan Armatrading isn't a well-known musician
to start with, but "What Do Boys Dream?" is even more obscure
than she is.
In
fact, the fact that it was even shown on Odyssey still boggles my mind.
Even though I'm almost 100% positive I saw the video on Odyssey in 1985
(reinforced by the fact that I saw it around the same time as "Mona
with the Children," a 1985 single), the song "What Do Boys
Dream?" was released on Armatrading's 1983 album, "The Key."
Also,
there was no reason for it to have a video at all. Why?
Because it was never released as a single. I have searched
Discogs and cannot find any instance of a "What Do Boys Dream?"
single. No commercial releases, no promo releases.
Thus,
I have no idea why a video was made... nor why it was played in 1985
so that I could see it on Odyssey.
But
it was, and it was, and I did.
For
years, I have intended on buying one of Armatrading's CDs to obtain
the song. Tonight, for reasons of which I'm not completely sure,
I started thinking intensely about the song and I finally snapped.
I made the rare decision to use 99 cents of Amazon credit and buy an
MP3 (I usually buy physical media instead of MP3s) and snagged the track
on my cell phone just as I was leaving am especially late night at my
"day job" at 1:00 AM.
I
then played that track, on repeat, from my cell phone, my entire way
home.
If
you have three spare minutes, please watch and listen. If you've
ever wondered what kind of a song can haunt me for almost three decades...
now's your chance to listen to it. As of the time of this writing,
a low-quality version of the video is on YouTube, allegedly uploaded
by Ms. Armatrading herself.
I
miss my past.
I
miss my youth.
I
miss my childhood dreams.
I
miss the mysteries of the "Music for the Night People."
Good
night, everyone... and thank you.
Badger
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