A Day In The Life
by John Olson
One winter morning I was sitting in the car waiting for the heater to melt the frost from the windows. It was bitter cold. I turned on the radio. Out came “A Day In The Life,” a song from the Beatle's Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
A light went on in my head. It's been 43 years, but I never tire of that song. Angst mixed with awe and amazement. A man's mind blown out. A crowd of onlookers standing around, wondering if he was from the House of Lords.
The song was inspired by the story of a Guinness heir who had killed himself in his car.
And four thousand potholes in Blackburn, Lancashire, that needed filling.
The first time I heard that song was on a summer morning in 1967. I was riding a bus to work at Boeing. I worked in Plant 2, an immense building full of gargantuan machines, hazardous chemicals, and glum machinists. I stood at a workbench for eight hours a day, scraping various shapes and bits of metal fresh from the machinist's press, plotting my escape.
The song was coming from a transistor radio. It resonated deeply with a spirit in me that resisted the deadening routine of the job. Tom Waits calls it a "diamond in the mind." That part of us that glitters inside like a piece of eternity.
I remember the exact location when I first heard that song. The bus had paused on the bridge for about five minutes. It was a warm bright day in June. The song filled the bus. No one objected. The driver scratched his nose. I shifted in my seat. Gazed down at the river. The chuckle of water, and a harlequin gleam.
And someone spoke and I went into a dream.
And 43 years later remember that moment. That morning. That river. That unruly gleam.
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I've been on a Beatles kick lately myself. This makes me remember reading In His own Write in 7th grade science.
Partly Dave, No Flies on Frank...
Thanks for the memory kick (you spoke and I went into a dream).
I like this very much. The way songs can immediately transport us to different times.
Perhaps consider "The first time I heard that song" rather than "this song"
Perhaps consider: "It resonated deeply within me" rather than "It resonated deeply with something in me..."
Love the ending.
Sorry, I am an inveterate editor, of my own work and others. Forgive me.
Thank you for the editing suggestions Cherise. I made some changes.
I wish I knew the music of the beatles, but I think I was too busy washing clothes and housekeeping.
It is a great reminder of that time. Everyone loved them.