My Gen X Playlist: I Ran – A Flock of Seagulls

One of my biggest conerns when hiking or backpacking is what to do if we ran into a hungry bear. According to the National Park Services:

If the bear is stationary, move away slowly and sideways; this allows you to keep an eye on the bear and avoid tripping. Moving sideways is also non-threatening to bears. Do NOT run, but if the bear follows, stop and hold your ground.

– National Park Services

My friends and I joked that we just have to be faster than the slowest guy. The slowest guy in our group had a slightly different “bear strategy”. He had to be faster than they guy he trips and falls. I guess all for one and one for all is thrown out the window when a bear enters the picture.

Bear concerns were typically reserved when we were deep in the mountains, not so much with local hikes around Los Angeles. Although I heard that there were potential bear encounters in the local San Gabriel Mountains, encounters were infrequent and I didn’t give them much thought. So when I rounded the corner one early morning and found myself face to face with a bear on my path, I was startled and froze. It was 6 am, still too early before the crowds hit the trails, so I was by myself. Do I run? Do I remain still? We locked eyes and he held my gaze. Did he look hungry? Angry? I couldn’t read him, he was expressionless. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but I wasn’t going to stick around to find out. I began backing up slow step by slow step, working my way back around the bend. When he was out of sight, I turned and bolted down the switchbacks at full speed. Yes, I ran. The National Park Service’s advice was the last thing on my mind. Fortunately, the bear didn’t follow and I called it an early day of hiking. Time to regain my wits over a drink, something slightly stronger than a cup of coffee.

In honor of my hiking encounter, I’m adding I Ran by A Flock of Seagulls to the playlist. Remember these guys with the weird hair?

Mike says it happened by accident. He was a hairdresser and was at a show and had his hair teased up Ziggy Stardust/David Bowie style. A groupmate wanted to share some mirror space and pushed Mike’s hair down in the front

– Q105

It turns out, their hair didn’t have dibs on the strange. I’ve heard this song a million times and never really gave the lyrics a second thought. A guy goes for a walk. He meets a beautiful girl. And then he runs off? What? Why? Apparently, the song ends with both of them being abducted by aliens. Aliens! Go figure. After hearing this, how can you blame them – I’d run, too. Not sure what else they could have done. I’m certain the National Park Service doesn’t have any advice on this one.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

I walk along the avenue
I never thought I'd meet a girl like you
Meet a girl like you
With auburn hair and tawny eyes
The kind of eyes that hypnotize me through
You hypnotize me through

And I ran, I ran so far away
I just ran, I ran all night and day
I couldn't get away

A cloud appears above your head
A beam of light comes shining down on you
Shining down on you
The cloud is moving nearer still
Aurora Borealis comes in view
Aurora comes in view

And I ran, I ran so far away
I just ran, I ran all night and day
I couldn't get away

Reached out a hand to touch your face
You're slowly disappearing from my view
'Appearing from my view
Reached out a hand to try again
I'm floating in a beam of light with you
A beam of light with you

And I ran, I ran so far away
I just ran, I ran all night and day

And I ran, I ran so far away
I just ran, I couldn't get away