Warming... PRETENDERS

Well, the weather here is winter weather today, but California winter, which I LOVE... After highs of 18 F several days last week, and waking at 6 am to a wind chill factor of 6 F... Today's 55 degree high had me HIGH... (Sorry Tutta!) I love snow, but for me, these respites in the weather, severe or not, are lovely punctuation to my days... Driving with the windows down, in a cotton shirt and tank top, my faded Levi's and short boots take on a different connotation... I won't say it's warm, but comfortable, refreshing, enlivening... Blasting The Pretenders, I am taken back, to a different decade, a different coast... My cynical East Coast Cave Dwelling ways have been replaced by my alter ego: California Girl... I'm body and soul walking back from the Oaks, with my oh so individual haircut; shoulder length with bangs, with bright yellow cellophane die job on the side where it is shaved... earphones blasting... could have been The Pretenders... my little lace up boots, brand new, clicking on the sidewalk, my oversized men's blazer getting warm, Wayfarers on, SPECIAL BEAT SERVICE t-shirt, turquoise overdied pencil jeans that day... oh no, I did NOT look like Debbie Gibson, but that is what it sounds like, from way back here, I guess. No head bands for me-- I'm too tough, too chic, too unique... boy, what was I thinking? it's farther than I thought...

Today, it's an SUV, and one handed air guitar while I drive... but that's ok. Because my feet don't hurt, my heart doesn't hurt... very much... and the lyrics all have meaning for me now, though I wish they didn't

MY BABY

I WANT YOU TO LOVE ME
THAT'S ALL I WANT FROM YOU
I WANT YOU TO LOVE ME
ONE DAY


I KNOW I'M A PEASANT
DRESSED AS A PRINCESS
BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE
TO TAKE MY CLOTHES AWAY


IF I COULD SHOW YOU
SOME HAPPINESS
THEN I WOULD FEEL
LIKE A REAL PRINCESS
THAT TO ME WOULD BE SUCCESS
MY BABY


I SEEN YOU DANCIN'
A NATURAL BEAUTY
YOU MAKE THIS DIVE
SEEM SUBLIME

YOU REALLY GET TO THE HEART OF THE MUSIC
YOU'RE THE POETRY OF TIME


IF THERE'S A METHOD
TO WRITING A SONG
HOW COME I'M GETTING IT WRONG
YOU WRITE THE BEAUTIFUL SONGS
BABY


C'MON, C'MON, C'MON BABY
TAKE MY HAND
C'MON, C'MON, C'MON SHOW ME
TO THE LOVE LAND


CAN THIS REALLY HAPPEN
IN THIS DAY AND AGE
SUDDENLY

TO JUST TURN THE PAGE
LIKE WALKING ON STAGE
MY BABY

by The Pretenders