Memory Motel

Two of my favorite songs ever written are ‘Memory Motel’ by the Stones and ‘Moonlight Motel’ by Springsteen.

Both are songs that rely on the narrator’s memories of days gone by.

Of course they involve romance and youth. Two things that fade with time, it seems.

I thought of each song as I passed by the building where my senior prom was held.

The building is boarded up. The grass is high around the property. The majestic steps that we walked up on our way to being pretend adults out on the town are now cracked.

Everything breaks down.

As I drove away, I considered that night from 41 years ago.

Hall & Oates - ‘Rich Girl’ - was a song I recall being played.

After a bit of a strange junior prom we were all matched up happily and I recall Jeffy and his date being voted King and Queen.

If I close my eyes I can see that precise moment. We all were pretty happy about it.

We were all dressed up.

And smiling.

The Inn was spectacular.

Now there is a ‘For Sale’ sign in front of the busted up place.

Both Springsteen and the Stones went for the positive side of the decay…

…Bruce actually using the line, “It’s better to have loved.”

In the face of loss and regret.

He pours a couple of shots into the pavement - one for the memory of her and him and one for the hotel itself.

It’s an unbelievably amazing song, with not a single wasted word.

And it blasted me straight between the eyes when I saw the broken down prom spot.

‘Dandelions growing through the cracks in the concrete.’

As he recalls ‘Half-drunk beer and your breath in my ear.’

Funny.

What can pop into your head as you simply drive down the street.