George Michael
It is 1987. George Michael just released his album Faith. And I have a walkman with a little stash of cassettes to listen to all summer long. I'm 11 years old, summertime between fifth and sixth grades. The sun is bright, blue skies and I love being outdoors. Dad's lawn mowing business is doing well, but all the crews are out mowing lawns. I can walk around with my headphones on by the barn and in the small field of sparse trees, listening to cassettes and singing along without a worry that someone can hear me and complain. I don't have a singing voice but I love to sing. It feels good and it doesn't matter right now because no one is concerned about me. I walk along the dusty dirt and rock drive to the intersection of Route 1 and Old Canton Road. Before crossing, I look both ways and head towards the little A & B Mart and Mr. James. On my headphones George Michael's been singing "'Cause I gotta have faith..." and I'm singing along. Of course I had no clue what the song was really about, but I liked the way George's voice sang and I liked the movement of the composition. And the song felt good.
After buying a Flintstone orange push-pop and my dad's carton of Belair cigarettes (Mr. James already knew these cigarettes were not for me) I walked back, singing along to another George Michael song on the Faith album, "Father Figure."
Once again, I had little idea of what the song was about but felt that the song was honest and positive. I liked all the other songs on the album, and especially remembered the video for "Freedom '90." I never noticed the news at the time, but apparently there was some controversy over it. But the controversy was simple and nothing of magnitude: the video was a symbolic breaking away from Michael's ties to his old band, Wham!. He did not appear in the video and several symbols of his past was destroyed in the video: his guitar, jukebox, and leather jacket. But who was in the video? Supermodels lip-syncing to his vocals on the track. I have heard this song again recently in a YouTube video criticizing George W. Bush.
I heard "Father Figure" the other day and remembered in a flash of memory walking on a powder-fine dirt drive to the corner mart for candy, Dad's cigarettes, or just wandering around around the trees in lazy Summertime singing to George Michael's songs. A brief love affair with that album before I moved on to another cassette.
After buying a Flintstone orange push-pop and my dad's carton of Belair cigarettes (Mr. James already knew these cigarettes were not for me) I walked back, singing along to another George Michael song on the Faith album, "Father Figure."
"I will be your father figure.
Put your tiny hand in mine.
I will be your preacher teacher.
Anything you have in mind.
I will be your father figure.
I have had enough of crime.
I will be the one who loves you
Until the end of time."
Once again, I had little idea of what the song was about but felt that the song was honest and positive. I liked all the other songs on the album, and especially remembered the video for "Freedom '90." I never noticed the news at the time, but apparently there was some controversy over it. But the controversy was simple and nothing of magnitude: the video was a symbolic breaking away from Michael's ties to his old band, Wham!. He did not appear in the video and several symbols of his past was destroyed in the video: his guitar, jukebox, and leather jacket. But who was in the video? Supermodels lip-syncing to his vocals on the track. I have heard this song again recently in a YouTube video criticizing George W. Bush.
I heard "Father Figure" the other day and remembered in a flash of memory walking on a powder-fine dirt drive to the corner mart for candy, Dad's cigarettes, or just wandering around around the trees in lazy Summertime singing to George Michael's songs. A brief love affair with that album before I moved on to another cassette.
Labels: music
posted by Laura @ 7:39 PM
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