Rock-tober 05, 2015

For most of my growing up years on Island View in Long Beach, MS, my neighbor across the street was a guy named Kim Reinike. I'm not sure how else to describe him other than "cool". His street cred with us neighborhood hoodlums was cemented with his car - a classic, restored Corvette convertible.

We were always on friendly terms, and one of the funniest exchanges between the two of us went something like this:

Kim: "Hey, Wayne, a new family moved in just down the street."
Me: "Yeah?"
Kim: "Yeah. They've got a daughter. Looks to be about your age."
Kim: *winks*

I remember looking at him with sort of a confused look on my face. Yeah. My young pre-teen brain just couldn't process that data.

On another day, Kim comes over and says he's going out of town and would I mind watching over and feeding his dogs. "No problem," I said. And it really wasn't; the week passed without incident. When Kim got back, he gave me a thank you present for my time - Bruce Springsteen's album, Born in the USA.

For me, that simple cassette is easily in my Top 5 "Thank You" presents. Born in the USA was released in 1984 and is still selling - 30 million copies as of 2012. It had 12 tracks and I loved every one of them. Seven of them were released as singles, and every one of them broke into the Top Ten. Do I have a favorite? Yup. Being the consummate contrarian, it's one not released as a single.

I'm hard-pressed to find a better coming of age anthem than "No Surrender":

"Well, we busted out of class
Had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a three-minute record, baby
Than we ever learned in school"

It's also more than just a coming of age song. It resonates even now:

"Well, now young faces grow sad and old
And hearts of fire grow cold
We swore blood brothers against the wind
Now I'm ready to grow young again"

And then there's this:

"I want to sleep beneath
Peaceful skies in my lover's bed
With a wide-open country in my eyes
And these romantic dreams in my head"

Wow. This song just transcends time for me; I'm getting misty-eyed just typing this. And to think, I first heard this on an album given to me as a simple "Thank You".

I should be thanking you, Kim.