Performer: The Moody Blues
Songwriter: Justin Hayward
Original Release: single, A Question of Balance
Year: 1970
Definitive Version: The Other Side of Life Tour bootleg, 1986
As 1986 was winding down, and it was becoming apparent that there would be no glorious repeat for the Chicago Bears, I was at my own crossroads. On the one hand, I was starting to contemplate the likelihood that I was going to wash out of J school at Northwestern.
On the other, I was realizing that I was falling in love with Chicago. It was a slow process, but I remember it hitting me one cold November night as I was walking downtown from the Law School library to the L. I had spent the day collecting research for a professor who was interested in the relationship between journalism and the law through history. It was part of my work-study program, and I don’t know now whether his work was ever published, but I was diligent about doing it when I could fit it in, which was rarely. I’d usually block out time on a Saturday and I’d have the Northwestern football game on the radio of my Walkman in the afternoon, and as the evening fell I’d listen to a tape I’d made of a Moody Blues concert (among other things) off the radio. Questions was the last song of the set.
Anyway, this one particular night I had stopped off at the Gino’s East take-out outlet next to the restaurant on Superior for a slice and a Coke, and as I was walking down Chicago to my L stop, I had a great view of the Loop area and all the buildings lit up at night. At the time, I was uncertain about my future—Questions seemed an apt song title at the time—and my future with Beth, who seemed so far away from me in Columbus. And all of a sudden it hit me like a rush-hour cab gunning for a fare: I really felt very comfortable in Chicago. I had spent the previous two months being a little intimidated by the big city but no longer. By the end of November, I knew how to get around; I knew a few cool places; and I had made some friends.
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