My Gen X Playlist: Turpentine – Brandi Carlile

I was at Dick’s Sporting Goods yesterday and saw a sweatshirt with my high school’s logo. That made me chuckle. I moved back to the city I grew up in five years ago, but never really gave much thought about my high school years. I almost bought it.

I know people who are good about staying in touch with friends from high school. My wife is like that. She’s still close with her childhood friends she grew up with. When we visit her family, we always reserve a few nights to spend with her gang. They are a great bunch of people. It’s nice.

Me? Most of my friends are from college or my early adult years. I haven’t kept in touch with many friends from high school over the years. Many of us were off to college and never reconnected afterwards. I wonder if that’s odd? Possibly. It might be fun seeing classmates at a high school reunion. I’ll have to keep an eye out for the next one.

Thinking about high school reminded me how cliquish it used to be. I never thought I fell into that trap. I tried to travel between different groups. I used to live by if you’re cool to me, I’ll be cool to you attitude. But at the end of the day, who am I kidding. I suppose I was cliquish, too. It was high school. That’s how high school life was.

When reality shows first started, there was one called High School Reunion. They gathered a bunch of former high school classmates to live in a house together. I remember how they all reverted back to their former personas even though many moved on from them in their adult years. It dawned on me how being thrown into this situation could be triggering. In a twist, the cheerleader did take interest in the former nerd. I can’t remember if it materialized into anything, but it was a good storyline.

The former nerd became somewhat successful in his professional life. Coming on to the show was to reveal his new me and shake off his former stigma. It reminded me of a classmate I went to school with since the second grade. She was always a tomboy/jock. She stood almost six feet tall and I remember her as a burly softball chick. At our ten year reunion, she turned all heads when she walked into the room. I swear she could have been a model. Drop dead gorgeous. It was a pretty cool moment. I don’t remember much from that reunion, but that stayed with me. She must have felt good to shed a little bit of her past self. Good for her.

Someone once asked if I’d relive my high school years if I could. At the time, I said, Sure, why not. If you asked me now, I may give you a different answer. Even though I enjoyed high school, I’m not sure I want to be transported back that far. At that age, you’re not even close to being fully cooked. Hell, you’re still goo in the mixing bowl, missing a few ingredients and nowhere near ready to be put in the oven. I think I’d rather jump in a little further down the recipe chain. Give me my twenties. I’ll take that in a heartbeat. And maybe while reliving my twenties, I’d do a better job keeping in touch with my childhood friends. It would have been cool to keep in touch all of these years. Classic case of coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Brandi Carlile released Turpentine in 2003. This was the second song that I ever heard from her. This validated the first one I liked wasn’t a fluke and made me listen to more.

. . . the lyrics are pretty self-explanatory for “Turpentine,” . . . it’s such a beautiful song . . . It’s a coming-of-age song about losing a childhood friendship. . .

Hercampous

I do miss friendships in high school. Maybe not enough to write and sing a song about, but those were good times. And I’ve heard many bloggers say you have friends for a reason, a season or a lifetime. As I grow older, I see a lot of truth in that. So, maybe my teenage friendships are a mix of seasons and reasons. And that’s OK. Growing up at that age is a crazy time. We’re all still raw cookie dough batter. And these seasons and reasons were important to make it through those teenage years. I may not write a song about it, but I can at least look back and appreciate them. So, even though they may not have made it into the lifetime category, they definitely were important in their own way and I’m grateful for them.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

I watch you grow away from me in photographs
And memories like spies
And salt betrays my eyes again
I started losing sleep and gaining weight
And wishing I was was ten again
So I could be your friend again

These days we go to waste like wine
That's turned to turpentine
It's six AM and I'm all messed up
I didn't mean to waste your time
So I'll fall back in line
But I'm warning you we're growing up

I heard you found some pretty words to say
You found your little game to play
And there's no one allowed in
Then just when we believe we could be great
Reality it permeates
And conquers from within again

These days we go to waste like wine
That's turned to turpentine
It's six AM and I'm all messed up
I didn't mean to waste your time
So I'll fall back in line
But I'm warning you we're growing up

We're OK I know we're OK
These days we go to waste like wine
That's turned to turpentine
It's six AM and I'm all messed up
I didn't mean to waste your time
So I'll fall back in line
But I'm warning you we're growing up