My Gen X Playlist: Inside Out – The Mighty Lemon Drops

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Or in our case, find a good local coffee roaster.

It’s Friday and we were on our way to LAX. Our flight was at 5:00 and we left early to miss rush hour traffic. The first delay notice popped up while we were rolling out of the house. An hour delay. Mild inconvenience. We chose to keep going. An hour wait to hit the road could have serious LA traffic consequences.

An hour in and few miles from the airport, we received a message that United was providing a meal voucher. That brought a smile to our faces. Good for them. Doing the right thing.

Then another update explained their generosity. Our flight was now delayed until 8:30 pm. We looked at our watches. It was 3:00 pm. Holy F. That’s a long time to sit around the airport killing time. Plus, we wouldn’t land until after midnight. By the time we got our bags and headed out, it would be close to 1:00 am.

Were we upset? Not really. We recently were in Hawaii in December. This was another island check in trip to see my aging in-laws. We are making an effort to see them more often. I planned to work remote every day, so this trip doesn’t have a vacation vibe.

Instead of getting trapped in the terminal, I detoured us to a low key local coffee roaster. We’re sipping coffee, on hold waiting for the United customer service to pick up right now. Our plan is to delay our trip a day. No biggie.

Right now I’m watching the roaster load up the raw coffee beans into the huge roasting machine. Pretty cool.

We just received another update. Delayed again. Estimated arrival is now 1:30 am. At this rate, our new flight might beat the original one there. Still on hold. I’m just going to hope for the best.

The lemons United handed us made me think of The Mighty Lemon Drops. I wonder how popular they were in the 80’s. I know I just liked them. Inside Out was a cool song released in 1988.

The words “Bunnymen” and “Echo and the” were commonly used to describe this band . . .

By the mid-eighties and into the latter half of the decade, being a jangly guitar band was a tough row to hoe in terms of million-selling appeal unless you were U2 or R.E.M. But by 1988 and the World Without End album, the band had gelled fully and had established their sound. 

This tune is a classic break up song from the point of view of the dumpee standing on a train platform pondering his fate. For a song that’s so full of heartache and even a shot of some fairly dark recrimination, it’s also full of empathy. Many, if not all of us, have experienced the feeling of being out of control of our fate as a love affair collapses out from under us. And as for the lingering love one has for the one who dumped us, that’s a pretty relatable and viscerally potent theme that this song raises as well. “Inside Out” is something of an anthem to being dumped, and a reminder to everyone who has experienced it that as lonely a feeling as that is, one isn’t alone in feeling it. Most of us have been there.

The Delete Bin

Yes, most of us have been there. And most of us have also been on the other end of delayed flight. There definitely is a feeling of not being in control under both circumstances.

Update. I almost hit publish. The United customer service representative just upgraded our flight for tomorrow. Extra leg room. Not a bad outcome.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Waiting for the last train
Standing in the pouring rain
Thinking, wishing, hoping
that you′ll never feel the same again

Lying wide awake at night
Sleeping in the morning light
Doing all these things although I shouldn't be ashamed of them

You can′t stop my heart from turning inside out
Try to stop my world from turning inside out

Clutching on the last straw
Seeing things I've never saw
Must be time I fell to a place I didn't know too well

Waiting for the last train
Standing in the pouring rain
Although I′m starting to break this spell
I know I haven′t got a hope in Hell

When you've called it a day
You′ve had things your own way
I guess it's fair to say
I′m gonna make you pay

(Didn't get a chance
Wished inside
Holding on until you draw the line
One step forward
Two steps back
And you′re gone, gone, gone)

Waiting for the last train
Standing in the pouring rain
Lying wide awake at night
Sleeping in the morning light

You can't stop my heart from turning inside out
Try to stop my world from turning inside out

You can't stop my heart from turning inside out
Try to stop my world from turning inside out
You can′t stop my heart from turning inside out
Try to stop my world from turning inside out

Try to stop my world from turning inside out