Radio 83, side A, track 4: “Rock Of Ages” by Def Leppard

Oh, Def Leppard, I honestly don’t think I’d heard this song before I recorded it off of BOB, but I’d heard that first pseudo-German opening way back in grade school.  I had several classmates who were the youngest in their family, and they always held a fascination for me.  They had access to all this cool knowledge that had been handed down from their elder siblings, whereas I, as the eldest sibling myself, was learning as I went along.  And all these older brothers and sisters were much vaunted and were in the pantheon of coolness, but my little brother didn’t hold me in such esteem.  Rightly so.  But still.  Point is, my classmates knew about Eddie Murphy’s “Raw” and sketches from “Saturday Night Live” and R-rated movies that I couldn’t have dreamed of seeing.  And they could chant “gunter glieben glauchen globen” and know what they were referencing.  And I could just nod my head in enthusiasm and pretend I understood what they were talking about, knowing deep down that I would never be able to keep up.

lyrics to “Rock Of Ages”