You must have understood by now that our first meeting has followed me all the way until this point. Some flagpoles are taller and with more colorful flags than others in our Memorybank and hence are easier to spot when we look back. You at Breivoll a hot summers day in June'85 is such a flagpole, and it is deeply rooted with a couple of others. Invisible to most, colorful and vibrant to me as their flags fold out in the wind.
I know I've said it before – I am no Springsteen-fan. Even though and despite tall flagpoles and vibrant waving. To me a fan is a collector – a collector of information and experiences connected to the object they are a fan of. A real fan might have all releases neatly lined up in numerical order (or perhaps alphabetical?). Rigorously neat, not a track missing. They might even have a triple; LP, CD and MP3, and in their youth they probably plastered their walls with posters of their hero, and as they grew older they hit the road. To me it's the music that is catchy, not the artists. I can get complete hang-ups on tunes or lyrics – no matter the artist. If it's catchy into the bone marrow, I'm sold. Until I've played that particular song so many times my ears, my brain, my feet and my whole body is totally worn out. After that it might be years and years before the tune catch my dancing feet again. With you it's different I must admit. Your songs don't wear me out; they just stay... and stay. They tickle my feet and capture my heart – over and over again – year in and year out. So after all – your appearance in Mrs. Soligard's life is not at all brief. At least not compared to others. And the others are quite a few.
I'm not sure you are at all interested, but here is my top 3 list of Bruce-tunes:
1. Dancing in the dark
2. Cover me
3. Born in the USA
This might not be a shock to anyone as all I have is one of your albums. In return I think that particular album is so fantastic that my top 3 are on it. And if that's not all, the album has my no 4 and 5 too. If we are to extend the list I mean; My hometown... I'm on fire. I know, I am heaping, but then again... it's hard to choose. But the top of the list remains. You see, I fell head-over-heels with Dancing in the dark. And I am still head-over-heels. My goodness what a song! Countless are the times I've been glued to the TV screen watching that legendary performance of the song over and over again. Wow – what a man! You're oozing IT. OK, time for a small admission. Right there and then in the good, old 80s, I fell just a bit. But mind you – just a little bit. After all, you were 1 year older than my dad. There a line – and it goes right there.
Thinking of it, you were my age at that point... Minus 4-5 years, give or take a few. But right there and then, on that stage, you don't look a day older than 25. I bet no one would say that about me today. Me,... I even have wrinkles and lines by my ears – and they didn't appear yesterday. I also have a couple of speed streaks between my eyebrows, and they are not from frowning but a result of high-speed- brain-activity. They might be related to a speedy appearance in general. Besides that I think I'm a pretty good match of a woman of 40. And that is not bad at all. I am close to halfway down my line if I'm lucky – after all, it's dangerous out there. But hey – let's get back on track. We were talking about the legendary stage performance. The one where you pull that girl up on stage with you. My apologies for the inconsistency – my thoughts are bouncing and leaping and are not easy to follow. Bear with me, please. I know it might be a tough ride, but hang on – there is a meaning behind all this. All that is bouncing are heading towards something – and so are we.
Oooookey. The girl and you. Dancing in the dark – though you were right there in the spotlight the both of you. I'd trade you my clarinet right on the spot if that could have been me. Just to experience that. To be seen. To be chosen. To be someone! But, I didn't stand a chance. I was not on the concert. I was not old enough. I was not hot. I was too many "not's". Too much Rikke.
Later – much later – I heard it was all planned, that the stage performance was not at all a coincidence. If that's true, it sort of falls a bit apart in my end. After all, it was the part that it just happened – that it was not planned, that was the beauty of it and made it amazing! The spontaneity of it, that no one had foreseen, least of all her. If that's not a "flag of the tops" moment, I don't know what is. I know now she is Monica from Friends. Was she an actress back then I wonder. Was this her first part? Or was she discovered after you pulled her up on stage and into the spotlight? It could be like that... It is like that sometimes – that we don't see the beauty of someone until the spotlight actually catches them. And then it is sooo much easier catching them in your own beam. But not before. That's sad. That we don't let our beam search a bit more around and let our thoughts about others be more independent. We are missing out on so many good people because we don't take the time to light our own torch and do our own search. We just do a quick sweep, and our beam might not even catch them – we let them there in the darkness, our darkness. We let them stay there like none, though they might be everything! Perhaps this is the real Dancing in the dark...
Here on the other hand is not much dancing and quite a lot of dark. It's time to let this day surrender into the night. To leave thoughts and dreams at rest in a place they can find nutrition to grow strong. The big dipper has started its engine high above my chimney, so I’d better dash. Don't want to get stuck here in this fine night. Promise me you'll stick around, Bruce. Until then...
Rikke
posted in Norwegian on February 15th 2012.
