A Song for the Ages

My dad was a Big Band kind of guy.

For him, music stopped at the end of the 1940s.

And I can appreciate that. He liked what he liked, what he listened to as a young man. We’re all like that. It’s a trait that’s been passed down through the generations.

With all that, then I was surprised — if not downright shocked — to learn that one of his favorite songs came out in . . . 1963?

And it was a far cry from
being a Big Band tune. There was not hint of a Tommy Dorsey influence in any of the melody.

Imagine that?!

My dad passed very early one Tuesday morning and was buried on a Friday. Months earlier, long before my dad’s illness had been diagnosed and when he seemed as fit as a fiddle — at least as fit as could be expected for a guy in his early 60s — we had purchased tickets for several Browns games in that magical 1980 Kardiac Kids season. There was a home contest that Sunday, but I decided to eat the other ticket and attend the game by myself so I could have time to start to process all the dizzying things that had happened.

On that bright, sunny, crystal-clear morning, after I had driven only about there miles from home on my way up to the Rapid Transit station in the Cleveland suburb of Warrensville Heights to ride to the Terminal Tower, my dad’s song came on the radio. It didn’t get played much back then, and for that matter, the same is true now, so it was startling to hear it. It was also very comforting, and reassuring, because I took it as a sign that he was right there with me, keeping an eye on things.

Then last Saturday morning, about 3-1/2 months short of being exactly 46 years later, I was driving along, thinking about my dad and Father’s Day being just hours away, and that song came on the radio. I smiled and felt those same emotions.

I am older than he was when he passed, but now, as then, it’s good to know he’s still there with me.

Steve King