Make Mine Mike

CD players weren’t always standard in new cars. My last one had a tape deck, so I got one of those cheap portable discmans with the cassette transfer thingie... Piece of shit would skip all the time. Whatever I played while driving over speed bumps ended up sounding like The Who stuttering in "My g-g-g-generation".

So I was thrilled my new car has the built-in CD player. And I had to have some new tunes -- I so rarely buy music, I feel gapped out, man. Bought the latest Green Day album, which of course is so five months ago, but I’m enjoying catching up with Billy Jo and the gang.

I especially like that song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". Stayed warbling through my head even after I got outta the car the other night. I had to park a few blocks away from the theatre, but it was cool. I just paced along to my jam:

I walk this empty street
On the boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk alone

Actually, there were plenty of people there, waiting in line for the movie. But it didn’t matter. I was looking for my friend, scouring the crowd of Hollywood hipsters and honeys. And I felt good, what with my new ride, new tunes, new wool cap (or beanie). It was cold out, but I didn’t need a jacket. Insulate the attic and the whole house stays warm...

I walk alone
I walk alone

And then the record scratched, as I tripped over the uneven sidewalk. I didn’t fall on my face, just kinda stumbled for about ten yards, my legs shuffling beneath me until I regained my balance.

The crowd was too busy talking on their cellphones to even notice. So I tried to restart my strut song, but then I was looking down, keeping an eye out for cracks in the pavement and, I dunno, the whole record seemed warped after that.

Yeah, I’m a smooth smoothie.