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My Gen X Playlist: These Are Days – 10,000 Maniacs

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Daily writing prompt
What makes you feel nostalgic?
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When I was in my twenties, my buddies and I rented a three bedroom apartment in Culver City. Everything seemed to be a fifteen minute drive away: the beach, Westwood, downtown, Santa Monica, Pasadena. It wasn’t the best part of town, but it was central to everything and it was cool having our own place.

I had just graduated college and was in an entry level job that didn’t pay squat. I had student loans, credit card payments, rent, car insurance. I drove a used car with 100,000 miles on it. It didn’t matter though. Finances were grown up concerns to be figured out later. I was still young.

Fast food was a food group. Beer was a staple. Hung over on the weekends was as common as the Sunday paper. Going out to the bars and clubs started at 10 pm. Funny, these days that’s when I’m brushing my teeth, getting ready for bed. We knew the food joints that were opened after 2am when the bars closed. Late night greasy food tasted best at that hour. We were young and our bodies could handle it.

I still played basketball in those days. We joined a number of local leagues and my body still moved where my mind told it to go. Little did I know this wouldn’t last. I can’t remember the last time my brain and muscles listened to one another. They act like total strangers nowadays.

There were a few heartbreaks, sometimes theirs, sometimes mine. I had a core set of friends that were always willing to go out for drinks to get over the hump and back out there. That’s what friends do.

If I heard road trip I was there. Nothing like a long drive to someplace fun. Could I afford it? Probably not, but my credit cards pulled me aside and whispered “yes” in my ear. That’s all I needed to hear.

I was still young enough where stupid was expected. My God, we did a lot of stupid things. Somehow we just laughed it off and chalked it up to life lessons. We could always blame it on youth and rode that excuse until it broke.

Somewhere along the way, I stumbled upon a career, picked up a mortgage, got married and began to act my age. Stupidity was replaced with responsibility. Instead of a spectacle, I was expected to be an example. These days, I’ve crested over the middle age tipping point and the salespeople refer to me as sir. I used to cringe. The first time it happened, I turned around to look for the old guy they were talking to. I was alone in line so that solved that mystery pretty quickly.

If I had to put labels on my life now, I’d choose happy and content. It’s nothing like my twenties, but that’s a good thing. There is no way I could keep up with that pace.

If there ever was a time in my life that I’m nostalgic for, though, it’s my twenties. I didn’t have a lot, but I had youth and a sense of freedom. And I’m certain my nostalgia is painting a rosier picture than the actual everyday humdrum reality that it was. But I’m fine with that. It’s the feelings from these memories that I love and miss. Life back then wasn’t perfect, but it was mine.

I feel nostalgia when I hear These Are Days by the 10,000 Maniacs. This song came out in my twenties and I remember the message of cherishing the present.

These are days you’ll remember.
Never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this.
And as you feel it, you’ll know it’s true that you are blessed and lucky.

I know I can’t live in the past and I don’t. Every once in awhile I take a sip of nostalgia and remember an incredible time in my life. Natalie Merchant was right. Never before and never since. Those definitely were the days.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

These are the days.

These are days you'll remember. 
Never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this. 
And as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky. 
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you. 

These are days you'll remember. 
When May is rushing over you with desire to be part of the miracles you see in 
Every hour. 
You'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky. 
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you. 

These are days. 

These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break. 
These days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face. 
And when you do you'll know how it was meant to be. 
See the signs and know their meaning. 
It's true, you'll know how it was meant to be. 
Hear the signs and know they're speaking to you, to you.

28 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: These Are Days – 10,000 Maniacs”

  6. Perfect song choice! I was just going through my CDs and it’s one of those that I can’t put in the Donate bin at all. I guess my twenties (or late 20s) I lived in the South Bay, just a few miles from you. Two blocks from the Strand of Hermosa Beach and man, you’re so right about how our bodies could handle everything we threw at it then.

    Work 12 hours at the clinic, head to the beach before sunset to play volleyball and then finish the keg at a friend’s house every weekend. Road trips to Mammoth, Big Bear, and even Estero Beach Resort for the annual volleyball tournament (the first time I went my partner and I made it to the semi-finals and I wiped out from the fear of having made it that far). Gave my t-shirt to some guy I thought I liked and how I wish I kept it for myself.

    I get that saying now: Youth is wasted on the young. But then, when can we do and get away with all the things we could do then? No other time.

    Thanks for that jog down memory lane! I used to hit the bars on Venice Beach with friends whenever someone’s favorite band came to town. Of course I can’t remember who it was now but it’ll come to me later.

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    1. You can’t go wrong a few blocks from the Strand. Not a bad view to come home to everyday. Southern California life doesn’t get much better than that. I haven’t been able to donate my CDs yet, this one in particular. I saw Natalie Merchant in concert once and I just imagine her twirling as she sings this song. Youth is definitely wasted on the young.

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      3. Dave Wakeling of English Beat! That’s who my friend Sharon was crazy for and we’d always go to check him out every time he’d perform in some bar in Venice or somewhere in Hollywood or West LA somewhere. I knew I’d remember eventually!

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