Every Song In My Life Soundtrack Has A Backstory

Start the music, then read the background tale.

Terri was my first adolescent crush. Her brown hair was long and straight, her eyes a dazzling blue, and she possessed a beautiful smile, which was in the process of being made into an awesomely straight smile by sets of braces on both top and bottom. Her solitary imperfection was being my best friend’s girlfriend — until it happened. One magnificent Friday afternoon, he broke up with her. Later, he confided in me he did this because he wanted to go out with a different girl. Since Mark wished to ensure a smooth transition from one girl to the next, he felt breaking up with Terri hours before his first date with the other girl was the smart way to make it all happen while leaving everyone happy about it. His logic, not mine. Looking back, still pretty stupid.

 Since Mark was on a date and I was not, my Friday evening was completely free, which was a good thing because Terri invited me over. For those of you who were unaware, life on a military base is incredibly structured, and much of where you can go and what you do is age based. My friends and I were too young as ninth graders to go to the Teen Club, so instead, we usually hung out in someone’s backyard listening to music and talking. This activity would go on from sunset until parents ran us off. I’m not sure why or how, but on that evening, it was just the two of us alone on her patio under the light of some bamboo tiki torches. Having just been dumped, she was melancholy. We listened to music on the radio, and I told jokes to cheer her up. My entire repertoire then was borrowed from George Carlin with a bit of Richard Pryor thrown in; not exactly appropriate for the situation, but I got her to laugh and took her mind off things for a while.

As luck would have it, the King Harvest song "Dancin’ in the Moonlight" came on the radio. Terri leaped out of her chair and grabbed my hand, pulling me into her. It was one of her favorite summer songs, and she always made it a point to dance whenever it was played. Even though I was little more than a target of opportunity, I accepted my fate with a good amount of grace, letting my ego be stroked since my crush was now in arms. At fifteen, I’d slow danced with girls many times, but never one who’d first danced through my mind first. It could have been that, or it may have been any number of other things, but the way she danced was something I never felt before, as she seemed to be caressing my body with hers while we moved to the music. At fifteen, it was a mind scrambler.

Midway through the song, she began speaking softly to me––almost whispering in my ear. I’m not sure if she was actually talking to me or not. Terri seemed more to be having a conversation with herself about why she chose Mark to go out with rather than me on the day when we all first met. As if she came to some sort of decision, she lifted her face to mine and kissed me. Considering both of us wore braces, there was a certain amount of subconscious caution on both our parts, but it was still a beautiful and memorable kiss.

Before the weekend was over, we shared more than a few walks holding hands, enjoyed two sunsets, and more than a few terrific kisses. It was the best weekend of the summer. On Monday, I left for summer camp and was gone for two weeks. When I got back, I found she and Mark reconciled, but fortunately at the same time I was also told my father got orders to Virginia and we’d be moving in a couple of weeks. At least I wasn’t forced to stay there and dwell in the aftermath. I never had contact with either of them again.

When I wrote my book “Moonlit Silhouette,” I patterned the heroine after Terri. Part memory and part fantasy. It’s okay, I hold a valid Poetic License so I can adapt reality at will when needed to fit a story. One thing I wanted to include was a few of the lyrics from “Dancin’ in the Moonlight” as part of the book, so I contacted the composer Sherman Kelly for permission.  He provided me with the contact information to get approval from Sony and we swapped a few emails about memories the song brought back for us both. A really nice guy. The folks at Sony were not so nice, making me wish I used the song and then asked forgiveness rather than permission. In the end, I didn’t use the song but wrote lyrics to a new song just for the book.

Here’s the King Harvest original:

This song still holds memories of the weekend with Terri. It is one of the many vital parts of the soundtrack of my life.

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