i was driving down the backroads last night on the way home from work, and champagne supernova came on the radio. instinctively, i cranked up the volume and rolled my windows down the rest of the way, singing at the top of my voice.
"how many special people change / how many lives are livin' strange / where were you while we were getting hiiiiiiigh"
that song is the summer of '97 when i was going into grade ten; an angsty awkward teenager who hated everything about high school, couldn't figure out where exactly i fit in and my summers lasted forever. i'd spent part of the summer at my cottage because my parents didn't like my friends; i hated missing out on the scene but looking back, those weeks i spent with my family alone helped me to understand and get along better with them. i was only pretending to be rebellious anyways - i wouldn't have really run away. i would have missed them too much.
when i was finally back in the city and could get out of the house with my friends, we'd spend our afternoons loitering on queen street west, hanging out by muchmusic hoping we'd run into our favourite bands, watching people at speakers corner, visiting used cd stores and raiding vintage clothing shops for kids soccer jerseys sponsored by local garages or men's mechanic shirts with the name badge still on them.
mine was huge and blue, and belonged to a guy named phil.
we wore original airwalks (before nike bought them out and started selling them at payless), and baggy raver jeans; visited the eatons centre and goofed around all summer, taking the long subway ride back to the suburbs at the end of the day.
someday you will find me / caught beneath the landsliiiiiide / in a champagne supernova, a champagne supernova in the skyyyy
what songs are inextricably bound to a specific memory for you? images:
