My Gen X Playlist: Hazy Shade of Winter – The Bangles

Do you need time?

I remember as a kid, summer days used to last forever. Sun up to sun down, there was all the time in the world. Life slowly dripped by. If you strung a bunch of those together, it felt like eternity. It was awesome.

Time is so different as an adult. I don’t want sound cliché and say time flies, but if you pause, step back to take a good look, you’ll see it really has grown a set of wings. For some reason, the marker at our house has become Monday nights when we put the trash bins on the streets. It feels like the time between trash days keeps getting compressed closer and closer together. I always find myself saying, “Trash day already?”

It’s a mystery how two separate hours can feel so different. If I took a measuring tape to an adult and child hour, they definitely wouldn’t line up. Maybe there needs to be some type of conversion table like they have for dog years. They definitely are not the same.

Do I need more time? I could always use a spare decade in my back pocket. But I’d settle for the slowing of time for now. That’s not a bad starting point.

One of my first introductions to the Bangles was through a Simon and Garfunkel cover when the band was more rock than pop. Their version of Hazy Shade of Winter has more guitar and harmonies than the original that seem to camouflage the sadness of the lyrics.

This is a song about looking back on life…and asking yourself “did I get to where I’d hoped?”

Stop spending time regretting the past that didn’t work out the way you planned. Start making your future into whatever you want it to be.

It’s time to move on. Leave “the hazy shade of winter” behind you. Spring is just around the corner…

– medium

Winter moves into spring. Too bad there aren’t accelerators and brakes in life. It would be nice to speed through certain seasons and stop and pull over to the side of the road for others. I’d floor it through winter, then take my time savoring springtime. Sun up to sun down, I’d let life slowly drip by.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Time, time, time, 
See what's become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities
I was so hard to please
But look around, leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Hear the salvation army band
Down by the riverside,
It’s bound to be a better ride
Than what you've got planned
Carry your cup in your hand
And look around, leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That's an easy thing to say, but if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend
That you can build them again
Look around, the grass is high
The fields are ripe, it's the springtime of my life

Ahhh, seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won't you stop and remember me

But look around, leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Look around, leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground...