Coney Island — Van Morrison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPfybDTJ-Bo

And all the time going to Coney Island, I'm thinking,
Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time?

Summer is coming and I'm growing up by the seat of my pants — in a few weeks I'll have a paying job, an apartment on campus, a roommate; I'll have to pay bills and buy groceries, ration money and figure out what to do with my free time. It's not hard, everybody does it. Still, it feels real and important and exciting, moving house and figuring things out.

Plus, the feelings of summer — peace and sun and warmth, intrinsic natural human responses — and plenty of time for my work, my research, my hobbies. This is what I want it to feel like.

Moondance — Van Morrison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rovxbHeGNVo

I remember dancing to this song at pre-primary school graduation. A decade and a half later, I can still remember my kindergarten teacher telling us to draw the first letter our names with our feet if we got panicked and forgot the moves.

I don't know much about Van Morrison (other than the requisite Brown Eyed Girl), but I know jazz-folk when I hear it, and Van Morrison's Irish accent is unmistakable. Somehow the song stuck with me throughout a decade and a half.

This winter, at a Christmas party, I was playing ambiance for the room; as much gentle jazz piano as I could. Eventually, I began to run out of songs I knew, and somehow the Brubeck I was butchering became Moondance, and only afterwards did I realize what I'd been playing.