Performer: The Who
Songwriter: Pete Townshend
Original Release: Quadrophenia
Year: 1973
Definitive Version: None
Another two-part song where
50 percent of where the song ranks is due to the first half and 50 percent of
what’s keeping it back from a higher ranking is the second half. I could break
it up, but you tell me where one ends and the other begins.
I really was looking forward
to Christmas break 1984. My first semester junior year at Wabash had been busy
like none other at Wabash, between football in the fall, basketball at the end
and the courseload along the way. Paper week and finals were particularly dicey
that semester.
But the activity kept me
focused. I ripped through papers week, eating at the Scarlett Inn as necessary
and getting everything done on time, including a massive 20-pager on Thomas
Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, which became my favorite novel.
Finally … everything was
done. Wabash was playing two holiday basketball tournaments out west. The radio
station was fine with footing the bill to cover similar events in Ohio the year
before but not this time. So I’d have the whole break off for some much needed
R & R, and, of course, I couldn’t wait to get home and see Beth.
But one final detail
remained. A week or so before finals, a note appeared on the school bulletin
board outside the dean’s office that a student needed a ride to and from the
Columbus area. Because I just happened to live in the Columbus area, I agreed
to do it.
His name was Manesh Mehta,
and he was something of a student prodigy. If I remember correctly, he was like
17 and a sophomore kicking butt in chemistry and biology. His family recently
had moved to Gahanna, on the other side of town from where I lived. Close
enough. I called him up and we set up the departure time for after his last
final. I had to wait an extra day.
It was no big deal, and Manesh,
I learned, was cool enough, so our conversation made the drive go fast. It went
so fast, in fact, that I didn’t stop at all—not to fill up, which I had done
before we left, not to eat and certainly not to go to the bathroom. When we got
to his parents’ home in Gahanna, I had to go like never before. The result was
Austin Powers-like—if Austin Powers never stopped during that scene.
Then came the longest part
for me—the final drive home. It was only a half-hour, but I was so giddy to be
done with everything and eager to be home that the seconds felt like hours. I
was going to go home first and meet up with Beth after she was done with work.
(She had a Christmas-time temp job, as I recall.)
Before I left Wabash, Scott
told me he got Who’s Last, ostensibly The Who’s final album, which marked their
“farewell tour” of 1982. Scott said the version of Doctor Jimmy was
particularly excellent.
Well, he couldn’t wait for
me to hear it, so as soon as I got home, he put it on in his bedroom, which, of
course, used to be my bedroom. I was greeted by Roger belting out: “Laugh and
say I’m green, I’ve seen things you’ve never seen …” as I entered the room. We
air-guitared around the room for a few minutes, and I truly was elated to be
done with the semester. It had been quite a ride.
I was even more elated later
that week when I got my report card—three A’s and one A-minus, a 3.875 GPA. It
turns out that as busy as it had been, it was the best semester I ever had at
college.
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