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My Gen X Playlist: American Music – Violent Femmes

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Daily writing prompt
What jobs have you had?
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I worked a bunch of different jobs during college.

  • Furniture delivery man
  • Warehouse stocker
  • Construction worker
  • Photocopier (really really boring)
  • English tutor
  • Librarian assistant
  • Bank teller
  • Accounting assistant

During my college years, I worked full time during my summers to save up a little bank roll for the school year. I also had a part time job on campus working 10 to 20 hours per week in between classes. It wasn’t too bad. The work was easy and it provided beer and pizza money during the week.

My mom once apologized that I had to work during the school year. That surprised me. Why would she have to apologize? For a number of years, my parents had three or four kids in college at the same time. I remember the sacrifices my parents made so that all the kids went away to school to have the college experience. We weren’t wealthy. We grew up the typical middle class family, but they figured out a way to send us by supplementing with scholarships and student loans. I couldn’t have asked for better parents.

My mom gives the grandkids a little monthly stipend while they are in college. I think it’s part being a loving grandma and part guilt because my siblings and I worked during school. She tells them it’s not much, just a little coffee money for the month. She loves being a grandmother and they all adore her.

I graduated college in 1991 and had to enter the real world, getting a job to support myself. Those part time jobs in college taught me a lot: hard work, responsibility, time management, the value of a dollar and appreciation for my parents. I wouldn’t change a thing. I scanned a list of 1991 songs and came up with this one: American Music by the Violent Femmes. Enjoy.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Can I, can I put in something like... "This is "American Music"... take one." 1-2-3-4!
Do you like American music? I like American music.
Don't you like American music, baby?

I want you to hold me, I want your arms around me.
I want you to hold me, baby...
Did you do too many drugs? I did too many drugs.
Did you do too many drugs, too, baby?

You were born too late, I was born too soon,
But every time I look at that ugly moon, it reminds me of you.
It reminds me of you... ooh-ooh-ooh.

I need a date to the prom, would you like to come along?
But nobody would go to the prom with me, baby...
They didn't like American music, they never heard American music.
They didn't know the music was in my soul, baby...

You were born too soon, I was born too late,
But every time I look at that ugly lake, it reminds me of me.
It reminds me of me...

Do you like American music? We like American music.
I like American music... Baby.
Do you like American music? We like all kinds of music.
But I like American music best... baby.

You were born too late, and I was born too late,
But every time I look at that ugly lake, it reminds me of me...

19 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: American Music – Violent Femmes”

      2. Ah, I see. Basically, it is a map that breaks down the city in grids. You look up the street address and it gives you a page and the vertical and horizontal coordinates. Once you have that, you can figure out how to get there. The LA book was pretty thick. It was the only pre-internet way to find directions. It was a necessity for everyone!

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      3. OK, right. We had something we just called “the atlas” but it sounds the same. Spiral bound maps of Boston and all the inner suburbs. It really was the only way good way to find places in neighborhood towns. It was either that or “call ahead and ask for directions” How positively Stone Age!

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  6. I always wanted to work in a library, but I could never land that job when it was available. I think maybe I’m just too loud. They probably heard the first sentence out of my mouth and decided I would be too disruptive in the hallowed space where one is always expected to speak only in whispers.

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  7. I don’t know many Violent Femmes songs; “Blistering in the Sun” comes to mind interesting sound. I took the straight-to-work route after high school, which was a limitation though I managed to overcome it and have an amazing and varied career. But I do recommend post-secondary studies and we’ve helped our kids through theirs.

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