Night Ranger

I recently found two old cassette tapes. I began making a summer mix tape in 1983. Over the years, this went from a cassette to a disk and now a playlist on my iPod. Some summer mixes were better than others. Often, I included an entire soundtrack from a summer blockbuster movie.

The two tapes I uncovered were the first two I ever made: Summer 1983 and Summer
1984. I thought it would be fun to re-construct these as playlist on my iPod. The Prince songs and big 80’s hits were easy. A large portion of the songs I already owned and merely had to move them over to a new palylist. Then there were some sucky songs I don’t want to remember listening to like, How Do You Keep the Music Playing. Oh well, most songs I still enjoy, even if they are considered tacky now.

Case in point: Night Ranger’s, When You Close you Eyes. First of all this was not even my type of music. I always referred to bands like Night Ranger as “white boy bands.” From time to time though, these songs sneak onto your playlist and there’s little you can do but to embrace them. I did not own this song anymore, but I easily found and downloaded it from iTunes. I have to admit, I’m once again hooked on this song. I’m going to lose all musical creditability! It washes me over with nostalgia and I keep listening to it over and over again.

The weather hasn’t been as hot a usual this summer and I’ve been able to take walks on my lunch hour. This is prime iPod time for me. I found myself walking on a sunny day, feeling the Night Ranger and reminiscing about summertime when I was young. I kept hitting replay, just so I could hold on to that feeling a bit longer. Oh that chorus:

When you close your eyes, do you dream about me?
When you close your eyes, do you dream about me?

I love the emphasis on the second your.

So my mind is lost somewhere in a 1984 haze when suddenly a mini van whizzes by me. It’s going way too fast on a suburban neighborhood street. I was far enough away, but I was on more of a dirt path than an official sidewalk. Faced instantly with my own mortality, I had a flash of that van taking the turn just a smidge too fast and possibly wiping me out! I would be laying there and, you guessed it, the papers would say I was listening to Night Ranger right before I bought the farm! Oh the horror.