Listen to the song; #11 on THE SOFTER SIDE OF ME
1980 - This song is kind of interesting to me because it was inspired by an unusual string of events that happened while I was trying to get to work one morning, and was completed when I went back to Maine. The song was originally called “On a Broken Down Friday Morning”. While driving to work in my 1975 Duster, Daryk and I stopped for a train crossing on Gardendale. By the time the train finally passed and the way was clear, my car wouldn’t start and we realized it had run out of gas. In those days nobody had cell phones and there was nobody to call even if we had one. So we headed out on foot (not the best neighborhood, mind you, somewhere between Paramount and Compton) and made our way to a gas station about 2 miles away. The guy there was nice enough to let us borrow a gas can and we walked all the way back and got back on the road. Since we were already way late for work, we stopped at Johnny’s Broiler for a hearty breakfast and met this crazy girl who said she was Linda Ronstadt’s sister.
Anyway, it doesn’t sound all that eventful here, but it was just one of those surreal days when everything seemed like a déjà-vu experience and there was some hidden force trying to tell me something important. So I tried to read into it and wrote about it. The song was still unfinished when I used it in my voice class an Cerritos College. We had to choose a song to work on and perform for our final grade and I remember the teacher, Hedly Nosworthy, asking me if I would be able to finish it. Then when I went to Maine that winter, I decided the song was too negative and tried to turn it around to be a positive message, therefore changing the title. By then I had a little better handle on all the emotions behind the song and I was pretty happy with the way it came out. One more tidbit of historicity in the song- at that time, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was making the news due to a string of airplane crashes the model was suffering (anyone remember that?) Okay so now that you know the background, here’s the lyrics:
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DAYS
Words and music by Reggie Michaud © 1980
On a broken down Friday morning, I was feeling all alone
Hanging on to shreds of humanity from this life’s rocky road
Waiting for a train on Gardendale, but the wheels refused to turn
So at 7-AM we crossed the tracks afoot
I was angered by my mere existence as I cursed at a singing bird
Smooth fine lines of a happy song seemed ironic and absurd
Cars raced by like DC-10s and the sidewalks began to burn
So to cool my head I sang this little song:
What happened to the days when we were all crazy
Life was just a game, having so much fun
Holding hands and singing songs and the songs were always happy
Now we’re closer to our dreams; moving on
Well we finally topped the tank off and we’re on our merry way
Three hours late as we reach the gate on this strange haphazard day
But it hit me then on the road again why I felt so sad and down
Viewing the past as the good old days, I forgot to look around
Now I’m living for today and I’m just as crazy
Life is still a game, having lots of fun
Holding hands and singing songs and the songs are always happy
Just a grown up adolescent; holding on
Yes we're living for today and we're still darn crazy
Life is still a game, having lots of fun
Holding hands and singing songs and the songs are always happy
We're just grown up adolescents; holding on
1980 - This song is kind of interesting to me because it was inspired by an unusual string of events that happened while I was trying to get to work one morning, and was completed when I went back to Maine. The song was originally called “On a Broken Down Friday Morning”. While driving to work in my 1975 Duster, Daryk and I stopped for a train crossing on Gardendale. By the time the train finally passed and the way was clear, my car wouldn’t start and we realized it had run out of gas. In those days nobody had cell phones and there was nobody to call even if we had one. So we headed out on foot (not the best neighborhood, mind you, somewhere between Paramount and Compton) and made our way to a gas station about 2 miles away. The guy there was nice enough to let us borrow a gas can and we walked all the way back and got back on the road. Since we were already way late for work, we stopped at Johnny’s Broiler for a hearty breakfast and met this crazy girl who said she was Linda Ronstadt’s sister.
Anyway, it doesn’t sound all that eventful here, but it was just one of those surreal days when everything seemed like a déjà-vu experience and there was some hidden force trying to tell me something important. So I tried to read into it and wrote about it. The song was still unfinished when I used it in my voice class an Cerritos College. We had to choose a song to work on and perform for our final grade and I remember the teacher, Hedly Nosworthy, asking me if I would be able to finish it. Then when I went to Maine that winter, I decided the song was too negative and tried to turn it around to be a positive message, therefore changing the title. By then I had a little better handle on all the emotions behind the song and I was pretty happy with the way it came out. One more tidbit of historicity in the song- at that time, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was making the news due to a string of airplane crashes the model was suffering (anyone remember that?) Okay so now that you know the background, here’s the lyrics:
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DAYS
Words and music by Reggie Michaud © 1980
On a broken down Friday morning, I was feeling all alone
Hanging on to shreds of humanity from this life’s rocky road
Waiting for a train on Gardendale, but the wheels refused to turn
So at 7-AM we crossed the tracks afoot
I was angered by my mere existence as I cursed at a singing bird
Smooth fine lines of a happy song seemed ironic and absurd
Cars raced by like DC-10s and the sidewalks began to burn
So to cool my head I sang this little song:
What happened to the days when we were all crazy
Life was just a game, having so much fun
Holding hands and singing songs and the songs were always happy
Now we’re closer to our dreams; moving on
Well we finally topped the tank off and we’re on our merry way
Three hours late as we reach the gate on this strange haphazard day
But it hit me then on the road again why I felt so sad and down
Viewing the past as the good old days, I forgot to look around
Now I’m living for today and I’m just as crazy
Life is still a game, having lots of fun
Holding hands and singing songs and the songs are always happy
Just a grown up adolescent; holding on
Yes we're living for today and we're still darn crazy
Life is still a game, having lots of fun
Holding hands and singing songs and the songs are always happy
We're just grown up adolescents; holding on
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