Gregg Allman "Queen of Hearts" (1973)
Queen of Hearts
The early 70's was a good time for me. For the most part. I was in college during those years and working during the summer to pay for that schooling. I still lived at home with my parents, but I had plenty of freedom. They didn't question what I was doing and I stayed out of trouble even though there was plenty of trouble I could have gotten into. It was an idyllic time when I didn't seem to be going much of anywhere.
Life was laid back. I was living the blues while the blues played in my life soundtrack. Southern white boy blues. The Allman Brothers were everywhere. Sometimes it seemed that with my friends life was all about the Allman Brothers' music. I liked the music, but there was other music I liked better. Still the Allmans were always around--almost like they shared a bedroom in my parents house or hung around with me and my friends wherever we would go.
The one big hole in my heart was not having a steady girlfriend. For a while I started dating one of my friend's sister-in-law. She was near graduation from high school when we started dating. We had virtually nothing in common except for a longing for a relationship. That situation was a boost to me for a while, but I could see that it was going nowhere. We stopped dating and that was that for a while.
Crazy days came and went, mingling with doubts and loneliness that often hung over me. Many of my friends were like that as well. Our social circle was like a support group for lonely young guys. At least we had each other. As the weeks and months passed, friends would drift out of our group as they found girlfriends, got married, had families. Those of us who were left would hang out and get high, go camping in the mountains on weekends, and do the kinds of things that unattached guys do.
We were all looking though. Always looking. We wanted to find the special lady that would round out our lives. We wanted the Queen of our hearts, our lives. The mother of our children. The partner who would journey with us into some distant unknown future.
Some found their queens and are still married to them. A few got divorced. A couple were widowed. A number of those old friends have passed on. Now I'm far away from Tennessee. And I've got my Queen of Hearts.
Did you ache for a partner in your teens and twenties? Did you hang out with friends who also were looking for partners? Are you still close to many of your high school and college friends?
Isn't it funny how music means something different to all of us. The same song from the 70s/80s/90s, etc., would appeal to each person uniquely. Nothing can take you right back to a point in time like hearing a song from the past that you haven't heard in a while!
ReplyDeleteAlthough the title of this song made me think of Juice Newton's Queen of Hearts.
>>... Did you ache for a partner in your teens and twenties?
ReplyDeleteYeah. I'm still aching. And I'm a long, long way from my twenties.
>>... Did you hang out with friends who also were looking for partners?
Yeah. Who else would hang out?
>>... Are you still close to many of your high school and college friends?
High school friends? No.
And I never went to Kollidge.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Aww Gregg Allman. While you were listening to Gregg, I was listening to his (later) wife, Cher. :)
ReplyDeleteQueen of Hearts is a great song.
I definitely ached to be in a relationship...for someone to love me, b/c I always felt so unloved by my family and friends. But all the guys I liked just wanted to be friends. Not that I wanted to go to the prom, but I wasn't even asked. And the one guy that liked me didn't tell me till 30+ years later, and he is truly the only person who has ever really loved me. And yes, I am still friends w/ people from high school and college.
ReplyDeleteHi. Thanks for visiting my blog. I don't want to be a quitter. So I hope to finish the challenge, just a little late.
ReplyDeleteI dated some guys, but they were shallow, looking for sex.
ReplyDeleteWhen I met John, I knew how special and kind he was then and is now.
I think it is different for women.
Yes, I did have that longing. I had a "great" love during my teenage years that I finally learned wasn't the love I thought he was. I have found my King of hearts and after 30 years of marriage, he still wears that crown. Music is such a great conductor, of memories, emotions, and imagination...
ReplyDeleteStephanie -- If you google the title Newton's song and others come up before this one.
ReplyDeleteStMc -- Yeah, a bunch of guys after you know what. Always on the prowl.
Teresa -- Greg and Cher was an interesting match-up.
JoJo -- I didn't ask anyone to the prom because I didn't know who to ask. Besides, I didn't have a car and may not have even had my drivers license yet. Actually I wasn't interesting in going to the prom anyway.
Teri-- You can do it!
Susan -- I agree that it is mostly different for women. And guys have to take a lot of initiative when it comes to dating. Something I didn't always do.
Lisa -- It's commendable that you and your husband have that many years together. I'd like to be able to say the same, but somethings just don't happen the way we'd like them to.
Lee
Lee-
ReplyDeleteYou may take comfort in knowing I am in my early fifties and still looking.
When I saw the title of this post, I was actually expecting the Juice Newton song.
LC