My Gen X Playlist: My Sharona – The Knack

Daily writing prompt

What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance?

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When you’re a kid and have an ethnic middle name, it’s usually something you don’t talk about. You avoid putting a spot light on it and try to fly under the radar. My friends used to ask and I’d tell them the first letter and challenged them to guess what it was. Everybody threw out a ton of American names, to no avail. Eventually their curiosity petered out and we quickly moved on. Fifth grade school boys don’t have long attention spans. Of course, later in life my middle name became no big deal. But when you are a ten year old kid…

Yet another topic searching for a song about names. The other day, the prompt made me pull the Reality Bites soundtrack. My Sharona by the Knack has been weaving in and out of my mind ever since. I didn’t know the backstory until today.

The Knack lead singer Doug Fieger wrote the lyrics to this song, which is about a girl he fancied. Doug was in a long-term relationship when he walked into the clothing store where a high school student named Sharona Alperin (who had a boyfriend), was working. The age difference (he was about eight years older) and relationship status didn’t deter Fieger, who was immediately lovestruck. With his girlfriend looking on, he invited Sharona to a show. Not long after, he broke up with the girlfriend and professed his love for Sharona, creating a weird dynamic where he would come on to her even though she had a boyfriend who often attended Knack concerts with her. It got pretty heavy when Fieger started writing songs about her – they weren’t together when he composed “My Sharona.”

About a year after they first met, Sharona gave in and they started dating. She joined the band on tour and watched as the song Fieger wrote about her elevated them to stardom. The couple was together for about four years (and engaged at one point) before the rock and roll lifestyle and Fieger’s alcoholism became too much for Sharona, and they called it off. In the aftermath, Sharona answered questions about the breakup by saying that she needed to become her own Sharona, not someone else’s.

Sharona is a Hebrew name, which is how Sharona Alperin ended up with it . . . It’s also the name of a small area in Israel. In America, it’s very uncommon; in the years leading up to the song only about 10 Sharonas were born each year. In 1980 though, about 70 American Sharonas entered the world, a spike attributed to this song.

– Songfacts

Your name is your name, and you should be proud of it no matter what. It just took me a little longer to learn this lesson. Maybe I just needed my own hit rock song like Sharona to help me see the light.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Hoo, my little pretty one, my pretty one
When you gonna give me some time, Sharona?
Hoo, you make my motor run, my motor run
Gun it comin' off of the line, Sharona

Never gonna stop, give it up, such a dirty mind
I always get it up for the touch of the younger kind
My, my, my, aye-aye, woo!

M-m-m-my Sharona

Come a little closer, huh, a-will ya, huh?
Close enough to look in my eyes, Sharona
Keepin' it a mystery, it gets to me
Runnin' down the length of my thigh, Sharona

Never gonna stop, give it up, such a dirty mind
I always get it up for the touch of the younger kind
My, my, my, aye-aye, woo!

M-m-m-my Sharona
M-m-m-my Sharona (Yeah!)

When you gonna give to me, g-give to me
Is it just a matter of time, Sharona?
Is it d-d-destiny, d-destiny
Or is it just a game in my mind, Sharona?

Never gonna stop, give it up, such a dirty mind
I always get it up for the touch of the younger kind
My, my, my, aye-aye, woo!
M-m-m-m-m-m-m-my, my, my, aye-aye, woo!

M-m-m-my Sharona
M-m-m-my Sharona
M-m-m-my Sharona
M-m-m-my Sharona

Hoooooo-ohhh, my Sharona
Hoooooo-ohhh, my Sharona
Hoooooo-ohhh, my Sharona