No. 395 – When It Comes to You

Performer: Dire Straits

Songwriter: Mark Knopfler

Original Release: On Every Street

Year: 1991

Definitive Version: None

On Every Street reminds me a lot of Fall 1991, when the album came out. I liked it so much, I bought Dad a copy, because I knew he liked Dire Straits (and always had).

I went home to Columbus a lot from Flint during Fall 1991, as I mentioned. (I got to know the route along I-75 and U.S. 23 intimately.) Twice, it was for weddings; the third time it was just to hang out. I had four weeks of vacation to kill, and after having done solo vacations the past two years, I was kind of done with that. So I went home for a week to just get away and see friends and be around activity.

I stayed in Scott’s room when I went home. After Scott moved in with Dad and the birth of Casey in 1988 necessitated change in the room assignments, Dad converted his basement dark room to a bedroom big enough for a single bed, a dresser and a clothes closet. He already had built a bathroom that had a toilet and sink, so adding a shower was easy.

The best part was the room included a nook past the clothes closet under the stairs to the basement. Dad built a desk for Scott’s computer, and Scott also put his Atari in there. It was the beginning of what later became a far-flung entertainment hub (since reduced through the miracles of the Internet).

With a bit of a cue from me, Scott took every opportunity to decorate his bedroom in bad-basement-bar style, complete with knickknacks such as a lava lamp, a neon rock beer sign, the bobbing bird and even a laser light. The only thing he couldn’t find that we both wanted was a stoplight that says “bar is open” when the light is green, “last call” when it’s yellow and “bar is closed” when it’s red. (He since added one to his fully operational bad basement bar through the miracle of the Internet.)

Anyway, while Scott was at college, Scott’s room was the perfect guest room. I had a whole floor including bathroom to myself. It finally reached a point of regularity that by Christmas, the room’s identity had been changed.

Scott kept the door from the rec room to his bedroom closed (but not locked) with a sign affixed to the outside that read “Scott’s room: Keep out.” (You could get to the bathroom if needed through another doorway, and Scott kept the door from his bedroom to the bathroom locked.)

At Christmas, he came home to find that Matt had taken down the sign, scratched out Scott’s name and added “Will” instead. For some reason, Scott failed to find the humor in the prank.