It is Friday evening and after another long work week, I find myself listening to the “Yacht Rock” station on Pandora radio. The Yacht Rock anthem, Christopher Cross’ “Sailing”, came on while I was listening. Immediately I was transported back to the summer of 1980. Although my memories have faded like a Kodachrome photograph exposed to the sun, this song immediately resurrected all of those emotions of being a 15-year with hardly a care in the world.
As much as I loved this song, I was never able to muster enough courage to purchase the album at the record store. I would have been the laughing stock of the 9th grade at Sill Jr. High School had one of my friends seen the album in my collection. The Cars, Styx and Queen were cool. Christopher Cross was about as cool as watching Love Boat. Had it come out that I had an album with a big pink flamingo on the cover, I would certainly never get another date to a dance. Fortunately, by Christmas I had devised a plan to secretly acquire the album. I was canny enough to put the album on my wish and wait for Santa to make the carefully disguised transaction. From that point, many a night I found myself falling asleep to the hypnotic red dots on my turntable and images of sailing on a sun-drenched waters.
Shortly after my future wife and I started dating, I was invited up to her bedroom before her parents returned from work. After our “math tutoring session”, I noticed she too had a copy of Christopher Cross’ debut album. It turns out that in addition to a strong physical attraction, we both had an affinity for “Sailing” as well.
I recently downloaded the Christopher Cross classic in high resolution format. I asked my wife to close her eyes and sit at the perfect distance from the speakers. I loaded the CD into the player. As soon as the quintessential piano introduction began, the tears began to cascade down her cheeks. It transported her back to the days in her youth spent at Myrtle Beach with her family. It turns out that her father was also a fan of “Sailing”. He would always turn up the volume of the cars FM radio when he was successful in intercepting the proper frequency of a favorite song.
Music is comfort food for our ears. When I am trying to seek simplicity in my life, I don’t have a craving for raw Hamachi with white soy, negami kumquat and trout roe. I heat up a can of Campbell’s tomato soup and grill a couple slices of Kraft American cheese slapped between two slices of Wonderbread. Just like this meal will always take me back to being a kid, walking into our warm kitchen after playing in the snow all morning, “Sailing” will transport me back to an equally reassuring time in my life.
“It's not far to never-never land, no reason to pretend
And if the wind is right you can find the joy of innocence again
Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.
Believe me.”
I am eagerly awaiting Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America” to be released in high resolution. Oh the places that album will take me.
