Thursday, April 03, 2003

Summer of 1972, at age 11, I was in this summer school program, taking a current events class. We were having a mock election, me running as McGovern (of course). The night before the mock election, I was struggling with my speech, and was playing 45's. I was listening to my older brothers stuff, and bam! - there was no way I could resist using lyrics from Edwin Starr's War! I remember the teacher flinching as I said "War - Friend only to the undertaker", and many of the parents fidgetting uncomfortably as my speech became an 11-year old's feeble anti-war rant. How sad to learn that Edwin Starr has passed away. Last night at the Lure, the Frankie Goes to Hollywood version of it blasted from the speakers, which caught me offguard, and reminded me of the original and my little speach nearly 31 yeas ago.