Joey

I have mentioned before that I live on a tiny little street right smack in the middle of central London. Although it is in the middle of a very commercial area, my street is actually one of London's hidden gems. There are some phenomenally great night spots on it that most Londoners don't even know about, let alone visitors. There is one place that is a couple of doors down from mine that has been closed down for most of this year but recently re-opened. They are on the first floor (in British definition, i.e. one up from the ground floor) and usually have their windows wide open. I'm on the second floor, close by, so I always hear their music wafting into my flat on nights when I have my windows open, which is almost always now that the weather is getting warmer. It has come to the point where I actually know a handful of their most regular nightly songs (Petula Clark's "Downtown", Oasis's "Wonderwall", James Brown's "Sex Machine", Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me", interspersed with live Spanish music - very eclectic, I know).

Yesterday, however, I was walking down my street at around 2pm and I suddenly heard a song blaring out their open windows that made me literally stop dead in my tracks: it was "Joey" by Concrete Blonde. The song came out in 1990 and just defines that year, which I spent in California, as well as the whole of the early nineties to me. In middle school in A.S.K. around 1992 I found out that, by miracle, my best friend (a guy) also knew the song. Barely anybody else I know has ever known it! So finding someone else in those years who knew it...in Kuwait...was incredible. Anyway, so yesterday as I was walking down my street and heard this song, it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I hadn't heard it in years. It was one of those songs that I guess I'd forgotten about once we officially stopped using cassette tapes (which, for my generation, was honestly around 2000), since I'd only ever had this song on a single bought in 1990 from Tower Records in California once upon a long time ago.

So tonight I was out with a group of some the most terrific friends that I have made over the past two years since I've been in London. I personally was celebrating the fact that today was my submission deadline for my first chapter and some other written items for my PhD. Anyway, at one point we were deciding where to go and so since we were in the neighbourhood I recommended the place on my street, since I know that their music is great and the atmosphere is wonderful (despite it being as small as my own living room). I was hoping for "Joey" all night but since I have grown accustomed to their nightly playlist and only heard the song that one time on the street at 2pm, I figured it must have been a random fluke.

But perhaps realising that I really needed this moment, the angels of all that is good in this world succombed, and at around 11pm, suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard a very familiar opening to a song. I had already talked about "Joey" and my moment on the street to my friends there earlier in the night, and when I heard the opening chords I hesitated for about one second, a bit unsure, and then squealed out, "IT'S JOEY!!" And it was..."Joey".

And in the midst of their conversation, my friends respectfully ignored me as I thoroughly wallowed in and savoured the moment. It was brilliant. It was one of those moments in life that you just want to cut out and fold up into a tiny square and hide in your pocket, to pull out in all those inevitable moments when life just gets too hectic.

This will always be one of the best, and most important, songs of my entire life. I know it is such a cliché, but this song just defines so many seminal moments in my life. And for that reason, it will always be mine. (Download)

"Joey, baby, don't get crazy.
Detours, fences...I get defensive.
I know you've heard it all before,
So I don't say it anymore.
I just stand by and watch you
Fight your secret war.
Although I used to wonder why,
I used to cry till I was dry.
Still sometimes I get a strange pain inside.
Oh, Joey, if you're hurting so am I.

Joey, honey, I got some money.
All is forgiven.
Listen, listen.
And if I seem to be confused,
I didn't mean to be with you.
And when you said I scared you,
Well I guess you scared me too.
But we got lucky once before,
And I don't wanna close the door.
And if you're somewhere out there
Passed out on the floor...
Oh Joey, I'm not angry anymore.

And if I seem to be confused,
I didn't mean to be with you.
And when you said I scared you
Well I guess you scared me too.
But if it's love you're looking for,
Then I can give a little more.
And if you're somewhere drunk and
Passed out on the floor...
Oh Joey, I'm not angry anymore."

Absolutely.