Mine is The Riddle by Nik Kershaw (YouTube video, sound). The synth, IT BURNS!
Co-workers often are treated to my cheerful whistling rendition of the chorus (while I understand whistling while you work is generally frowned upon at the SDMB, I work with folks who don’t mind whistling or singing while you work, and actually encourage it to an extent - we’d go crazy if we didn’t) - anyway, I often get the odd look and a “what is that song?”; it sounds vaguely familiar, but no one can quite place it. Liking it or not depends on one’s opinion of Nik Kershaw, who I actually adore - but I rarely like to admit it in public - and the cheese factor is high.
It all brings back fond memories of my dad, who is still alive, by the way, I just moved far away. Summer scents of hot grass in a warm breeze at high noon in my backyard in New Brunswick. Being able to see for miles from my back patio, just hills and hills of trees and sky and not much else. I felt like I could see all the way to St. Stephen from there. My dad would be “barbequing” ground chicken burgers - a loose term, indeed, as he was really just heating them up on a grill, and not adding any sauces or anything special to them. He would have his cheap, ancient stereo hooked up to some speakers and have it blasting into the backyard. Nik Kershaw is high on his favourite artists list. I’ve heard that song since it came out back in - what, 1985? - and I was still just a wee stump then, but by the time dad was “barbequing” (if ever a word needed quotes, this is the appropriate time), I was in my early twenties, and still but a wisp of a flame-haired Acadian girl, yearning to be out, out, and far, far away.
I moved to Seattle when I was still 25, was married, and my husband even likes Nik Kershaw. Lots of his stuff. My life is a very happy one, I have a job I adore, I’ve made a lot of new friends and am finally beginning to come out of my very shy shell. Our marriage is a happy one, and just yesterday celebrated our fourth year anniversary. Everything is looking up, and I can’t wait to find out what’s in store for tomorrow. I learn new things, new skills, new ideas, every single day, and I feel, for the first time, like I am thriving in my life, enjoying it for what it is, seeing things in a new, optimistic light.
And yet here I am, far, far away, and Nik Kershaw reminds me only of hot grass in a warm breeze, high noon, in my family’s backyard, smelling chicken warming up in tinfoil, and staring out across those rolling hills full of trees, where I could see all the way to St. Stephen, if I tried really hard.
