Radio 61, side A, track 1: “The Ballad Of Jayne” by L.A. Guns

Oh, L.A. Guns, we’ve made it to the 61st tape in my collection!  That means there are only ten tapes to go before we’re done reliving my high school taping career.  I started this tape on May 12, 1990, which was a Saturday.  The school year was almost over.  I know these things because besides these tapes that I’ve carted around all my life, I also kept a diary (in the form of crumbling school notebooks) that I still have as well.  I dug out several notebooks about a month ago to see if I could cross-reference what was going on with me when I was taping the songs I was taping.  On the day I taped this I had decided that I didn’t like Andrew Dice Clay and that I was going to ask my grandpa to help me make ninja weapons.  A friend had also called and told me he took his parents’ van out for a 200-mile joyride.

It’s fascinating reading my thoughts as they were happening.  Also embarrassing.  Also kinda sad.  Also incredibly frustrating.  Because I didn’t put a lot of detail in them.  My ego was such that I assumed I would remember everything, so there are many entries where I only hint at the high school drama that was going on in my life.  It was clear I was assuming that future me would be in on the jokes, but I’m not.  Of course, the same thing’s going to happen some day if I decide to go back and read a lot of these posts, because I tend to be a little vague about what’s happening in my own life on here just because it’s the internet and you never know who’s lurking.  I mean, I’m sure I’ve said way too much on this thing over the years, so maybe I should just go for it.

Like today (or yesterday, since I’m writing this the night before).  I woke up.  I watched “Inside Out” with my wife and cried like a baby both watching the “Lava” short before it and the movie itself.  While my wife was gone to a hair appointment, I read some of “Gangster Squad” and fell asleep on the couch with the dogs.  Then my wife and I watched the season finale of “Public Morals” plus episodes of  “Superstore”, “American Horror Story: Hotel”, and “Into The Badlands” and Thursday’s episode of “Young and the Restless”.  And I picked up some Chinese food.  Cleaned the litter boxes.  And after this, I’ll be doing the dishes, watching most of tonight’s “Saturday Night Live”, arguing with my wife over how long I can stay up to read, and going to sleep.

Frankly, L.A. Guns, my life now is not that much different than my life was then except for the marriage part.  Otherwise, I still have chores to do, I still watch tons of television and movies, I still read late into the night, and I still want my grandpa to make me ninja weapons.

What does any of this have to do with this song, L.A. Guns?  Not a whole helluva lot.  But now I know what I was doing the day I recorded this off the radio.  Surprisingly, I didn’t include in my diary that I’d recorded music off the radio.  Considering how important this was to me, you’d think that would be the first thing I’d have written down.  Although to be fair, my friend’s joyride was a pretty big deal.  Also, until I wrote this blog post, I did not know that the name of this song was “The Ballad Of Jayne”.  I always thought the lyrics were “What a shame what happened today” instead of “What a shame what happened to Jayne”.  Either ways, it’s a shame.  It’s also a shame that this is the only song of yours I ever recorded off the radio, L.A. Guns.  At least I was able to get a good one.

Thanks for listening, L.A. Guns, and I promise I won’t bore future posts with a rundown of my TV-viewing habits of the day.  Let’s see what the rest of Radio 61 has in store for us!

“The Ballad Of Jayne”

Sheeee was always somethin’ special

Diiiiiamond shinin’ bright in the raaaain

Eeeeeverybody dreams of angels

No one will ever know

How much I
Loved ya so

Now it all seems funny, kinda like a dream
Things ain’t always what they seem
What a shaaaaame

What happened to Jayne

Yooooou were always on my miiiind

Chiiiiild-like summer days in the suuuun

Slooooowly wishes turn ta sadneeeess

Tiiiiime don’t heal a broken guuun

I wish I’d never letcha go

Hear me now ’cause I want ya to know

That it all seems funny, kinda like a dream
Things ain’t always what they seem
What a shaaaame

What happened to Jayne

<awesome L.A. Guns jam>

Noooow she’s breakin’ hearts in heaveeen

Shiiiinin’ bright
In the skyyyy

I still hear her voice in the wind

I still think of you
In the niiight
Oh yeah

Well, I guess she’ll never know

How much I
Need her so

Now it all seems funny, kinda like a dream
Things ain’t always what they seem
What a shaaaaame

What happened to Jayne

Now it all seems funny, kinda like a dream
Things ain’t always
What they seem
What a shaaaaame

What happened to Jayne

What happened to Jaaaaaaayne