And every single meeting with his so-called superior Is a humiliating kick in the crotch
The number of years Larry would play this song and I would sing along oblivious to how deeply these lyrics could be felt. He tried to tell me but with a lot of things in life until you experience them for yourself you just don’t get it.
It’s not that I didn’t have my own frustrations at work over the years it’s just that my main focus was on raising kids and it’s much easier to let work things go when you work part-time and have so many other things to focus on while raising kids.
Eventually I did get it and even wrote part of it on the inside cover of my notebook reserved for work meetings. Gotta say, not a fun feeling at all.
I will say I felt vindicated in one meeting when not my so-called superior but rather the head of all of the finance department repeated something I liked to say to my co-workers when they would get stressed during the holidays…..”we are not curing cancer here its just bubbles and bras people so relax”. All eyes turned to me in that meeting and I just had to smile and yes, I made sure to make eye contact with my actual so-called superior the whole time.
Let me make one thing abundantly clear - Shannon KNEW this song, but didn't KNOW this song.
Am I happy she finally got it? Not at all. No-one likes to see their spouse suffer. But this is, again, another case of "hearing" versus "listening". For a long time (until she really got it) I think she really despised me loving it and singing it at the top of my lungs every time it played. Because there's a dark humor in celebrating the misery that you are mired in. Said another way - you can be miserable and mired and accepting of that fate or take control of the situation with humor, albeit dark humor.
I always chose dark humor and this lyric was always front of mind - jokes on you "so called superior".
Did I report to some fantastic leaders in my life? Absolutely. Did I report to some pretty poor leaders? Absolutely. Did I report to some complete assholes who because their lives were so pathetic and terrible that they wanted your life to be pathetic and terrible? Absolutely.
If I were to name a "go-to" dude life experience song - a dark humor rallying cry, if you will - this would probably be it. Kind of like I suppose the movie Sideways is... If you're not a dude, you probably won't get it. Or even this song for that matter. Although I think they arrive at the same place, The Pretender takes a very different path than Synchronicity II. I prefer Synchronicity II.
Oh what is that "thing" that crawls from the slime to the surface to becoming a shadow on the cottage door? Anger? Anxiety? Depression? Feeling Invisible? Loneliness? Rage? Feeling Unremarkable?
At any given moment in life I would argue any and/or all of the above. When it reaches that cottage door, are you letting it in?
I want to put in the disclaimer that being a dad is different than being a mom. Not better - just different. It also has to be noted that this is another 1983 song. So the best year of music as well as the fact that some of the "old-fashioned" societal norms that men were breadwinners still existed.
Most of the time dad's just have to go through the motions. Go to work - make sure the family has a roof over their head and food on the table - make sure anything that needs done gets done - in general, same routine just existing day in and day out.
So of course just when you think life is looking up, something comes along and beats you back into submission. The car breaks down. The A/C or furnace stops working. Insurance won't cover a procedure. Your company downsizes. There's always something around the corner and it's never just "one thing at a time"...
Daddy grips the wheel and stares alone into the distance He knows that something somewhere has to break
So this song has lived rent-free in my head forever and I know what it all means - I have lived it. Unfortunately, so has my wife...
P.S. It doesn't get much "so called superior" more than this picture of Shannon with the actual superiorLes Wexner taken circa 1993 for an award that Shannon received. Of course we didn't know it at the time, but this is when Les was full on partnered with Jeffrey Epstein.
Per Paul Harvey - and know you know, the rest of the story...
Another suburban family morning Grandmother screaming at the wall We have to shout above the din of our Rice Krispies We can't hear anything at all
Mother chants her litany of boredom and frustration But we know all her suicides are fake
Daddy only stares into the distance There's only so much more that he can take
Many miles away Something crawls from the slime At the bottom of a dark Scottish lake
Another industrial ugly morning The factory belches filth into the sky He walks unhindered through the picket lines today
He doesn't think to wonder why The secretaries pout and preen like cheap tarts in a red light street But all he ever thinks to do is watch
And every single meeting with his so called superior Is a humiliating kick in the crotch
Many miles away Something crawls to the surface Of a dark Scottish loch
Another working day has ended Only the rush hour hell to face Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes Contestants in a suicidal race
Daddy grips the wheel and stares alone into the distance He knows that something somewhere has to break He sees the family home now looming in his headlights The pain upstairs that makes his eyeballs ache
Many miles away There's a shadow on the door Of a cottage on the shore Of a dark Scottish lake
Many miles away... Many miles away... Many miles away...
Ghost of a Chance 