anthem of indifference

Not so long ago, a friend and I were talking about Westfield High School. We both went there. I graduated in 1990 (he, in '83) and he was wondering what our class song was. I was fairly convinced that his class song must have been that Billy Joel song. This is the TIIIIME to hold onto, this is the blah blah blah... That song sounds eerily like a cross between this early 19th century concerto (that I used to have on one of those pastel-blue/yellow/pink maxell tapes) and some Van Hagar song. Something off of 5150 maybe? Dreams? I don't know.


Our class song was by the Simple Minds. Don't you forget about me. I voted for Minor Threat's "Minor Threat". It wasn't on the ballot but I wrote it in. I thought it fitting. We're not the first, I hope we're not the last 'cause we're all heading for that adult crash...but of course, it lost. Rather dreadfully I suppose. I played guitar in the 5 piece band that was to perform the song at the graduation ceremony. I remember that it was in the key of D. Well, that's the key that our souless, crazy-eyed band director wanted to do it in. This is a relatively meaningless sidebar in my life. I only share this because of this one image that I have stuck in my head. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the song. It's got a huge group of "La La's" at the end. We play the song and it comes to the big outro and I remember looking up at 400 kids in caps and gowns singing in semi-drunken unison Laaaa, La La La Laaaa...la la la Laaaaa... and realized that this was perfect. The verse, chapter and story of the high school experience. The lovely anthem of indifference. Genius.