I’m not much good at introductions to songs about memories
But when I walk through the old neighborhood time seems to freeze
And then rolls back slowly to our high-school years
The scenes play back between the laughs and the tears
Do you remember Chaim’s party and getting lost in the snow
And Langer at Masada, he didn’t know which way to go
Remember David K. and his top-secret stash
Remember Yossi the ZZ Top sneeze looking for a place to crash
Or how about the time when BT threw me out of school
All the guys went on strike for me and made ol’ BT play the fool
Remember Mitch and David, Room 440, Delta House
Or going to the disco and blowing our energy out
There were places like the Tea House, the Little Pub, and Richie’s
Our late-night parties made the authorities itchy
But not because we’d all really get a little wild
They’d let that all pass with a wink and a smile
Just be on time for minyan, that was their concern
And sure enough, like good boys, the next day we’d sit and learn
Remember Emil and Gedaliah and Reality Shock Band
And our secret basement where our strategy was planned
There was JBR and Tel-Or where we’d try to make it big
And that trip down to Yeroham where we played that disastrous gig
Remember the Peter Gunn theme and the way we played it out
Me and Sugy and a cap gun in one of the many blackouts
Remember the band’s rehearsals in the dining room
With all the perfect harmony of a sonic boom
Independence Day fireworks, silly string, and shaving cream
Bopping college sneezes’ heads until we’d make them scream
Isser with his camera shouting Two More Months!
Two more months and it’s over you can only live it once
No more rabbis and no more Judaism
But no more carefree good times ‘cause that’s what life isn’t
So why worry about the future now
The present only comes once anyhow
Tomorrow is tomorrow and today is today
And we aren’t always gonna be this way
Remember all those trips in the back of the bus
We’d blast the music so loud and get the counselors mad at us
Remember Sheisa de-Moicha was preaching from the hill
Or going down the Ouja getting bruised and getting thrills
When we visited Rothschild’s crypt and “cried”, oh Eddie, WHY?!?
We turned the rabbis’ faces white and made them want to die
Breaking the dishes cleaning up at Shavei Shomron
And drunken Tevy trying to walk back to Netanya all alone
Remember all the good music they played that year
Rock The Casbah, Shadows Of The Night
Workin’ In a Coal Mine, I Ran, Green Onions
Nothing like that to make us feel all right
Remember all those crazy classes
Rabbi Fox would take his time and we’d snooze
And Schrader would devote two whole hours
To dating and girls in his mussar shmooze
Oh, how they tried to wash our brain
And how their efforts went down the drain
I remember Fruitcake telling me man-to-man
“It’s wrong for a yeshiva bochur to be in a rock’n’roll band”
But those were the risks I had to take
And despite it all my faith wouldn’t shake
Remember Susie and Jeff, and Betty and Scott
And how about Lizzy, all the guys thought she was hot
Remember how we’d sneak the girls up to the dorm
Despite all the rules and the many times we were warned
Remember Eric and Ateret and Saturday in the park
Or me and Ari biking past the girls’ dorm after dark
That vicious waterfight we had, I can’t forget
And then me calling Judy and asking her if she wanted to get wet
There was Sara and Martin who told her I Love You
During that insane drunken Purim rendezvous
Remember Michael and Lisa who swore they’d never part
Lost love betrayal broken dates and broken hearts
There was so much more so much to tell
Like about Mark the karate man and Judas Priest as well
Like Weiser and Ian and Hal-PERT! (YOooo!)
These were all good guys it was worthwhile to know
It was so cool but now it’s gone
We left our mark and carried on
The past is the past and today is today
But we can always remember our glory days
They’re what made us this way …
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
One evening somewhere toward the end of my army service, in 1988, I found myself wandering through the neighborhood where my high school used to be, and in spite of myself, began feeling all maudlin and moody, thinking about the times I had there and wondering where all my friends from that era had spread out to. That little walk produced several songs, including this one, which is a detailed (if mawkish) reminiscence of what I considered my greatest year up to that point. The music is like a slowed-down version of Pat Benatar's "Shadows of the Night," one of the songs that was popular that year and referenced in the fourth verse. Banged out on the piano several times but never recorded or performed.
DISCLAIMER: Any resemblance of the characters mentioned in the lyrics to actual persons, living or dead, is 100% intentional, not coincidental! These were my actual classmates, schoolmates, bandmates, and other assorted characters during my senior year. Most last names, though, have been omitted to protect the guilty.