On this day 36 years ago, I was laid low with a nasty case of the mumps - eating, drinking and even breathing with considerable difficulty. In the evening, my best mate unexpectedly knocked at my parents' front door and we stood for a moment, one of us at each end of the hall, about 10 feet apart. I was in no condition to hold a conversation, so few words were exchanged and I was puzzled as to why he'd chosen to put his health on the line to visit me when he could've just picked up the phone to find out how I was. He reached into his backpack, pulled out a record in a carrier bag, crouched down and slid it along the floor, the length of the hall. 'I thought you'd want this, however rough you're feeling', he said. I picked it up and took the record from the bag. It was 'Sandinista' by The Clash, which had been released that very day. A brief nod of gratitude was all I could muster in my fevered state. He turned, opened the front door and was gone.
The Clash & Mikey Dread - If Music Could Talk / Living in Fame
15 comments:
Now that's what I call a real friend!!!
Great Story, Swede ...
As Dirk says, true friendship. I first bought Sandinista on double cassette for some unfathomable reason
What a wonderful friend to have! Are you still in touch with him, Mr. S?
I am indeed Marie. I'm Godfather to one of his (grown-up) kids and we're busy making plans to see Bob Dylan again in May.
Beats a bunch of grapes!
Lovely. Six sides of vinyl makes up for mumps.
Heartwarming!
That's just a great story!
You can be proud on friends like these,Swede. And I m sure some Clash would heal any disease. Great story so far.
You can be proud on friends like these,Swede. And I m sure some Clash would heal any disease. Great story so far.
Mr. S,
It makes me happy, for some reason, that you're still in touch with him. Friends like that are very few and far between. How many Dylan concerts have you attended?
P.S. I'm sorry - I keep forgetting to turn on my feed. (If you want to change the link, that is.) I think we have to consider my blog an anomaly in the blogosphere - it rightfully should be considered a "pop-up" blog. ;-)
I've seen Dylan 60 times Marie, around a half of those with the aforementioned friend. Unfortunately I was unable to secure us tickets for Bob's 2017 tour when they went on sale on Tuesday. They were 'sold out' and already available on secondary sites for nearly triple the face value. Not happy.
We all seem to be really focussing on old friends at this time of year and reminiscing about good times and various kindnesses. Amazing how music and the sharing of it still resonates all these years later - powerful stuff.
That was so good. Swede. Warms the cockles.
Brilliant 'I think people are the greatest fun'
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