Tuesday’s Tune – ‘Roam’

Flashback to 1989, I was younger and living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I had roamed west in ’87 away from south Texas – yearning to make it on my own.

Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without wings, without wheels

Summers are for exploring and roaming. I am fortunate to have a profession where I have summers off and time to rest, relax, restore, and explore. Many folks think all teachers do over summer break is play, but that’s not the case most teachers are busy with learning or rethinking ways to be a better teacher. But that’s not what today’s Tuesday’s Tune is about.

A Farmer’s Market in Good hart, MI

Flashback to 1989,I was younger and living in the San Francisco Bay Area, my girlfriend had moved to be close the previous spring (we were married two years later), we experienced a major earthquake together, and on our days off we explored the Bay Area together, AND the B-52s released ‘Roam.’ It was the fourth single on their album Cosmic Thing which was released in June of ’89. The B-52s were hip and their songs were all over the airwaves. We had a copy of the CD, one of our first CDs and I made a copy on cassette – we didn’t have a CD player in either of our cars, then, and we listened to the B-52s over and over and we’d sing as we drove or roamed.

Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without wings, without wheels
Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without anything but the love we feel

The B-52s are a fun band with fun sound. Perfectly 1980s. The music fueled our adventures as we roamed the countryside to the north, east, and west of the Bay Area. We’ve shared the music with our kids and they will sing when the tunes come on, sometimes. O knows the tunes and bobs her head just like Kate Pierson.

This summer we’ve roamed, too. A couple of weeks back we had guests at the lake – a couple from B’s hometown joined us by the lake. We had a great time and Saturday we roamed north along Lake Michigan and ended up at the Straits of Mackinac and the bridge, the ‘Mighty Mac.’ Along the way we stopped in Petoskey, Bay Harbor, and Good Hart and the General Store. We drove through the Tunnel of Trees to get to Good Hart. We passed through Cross Village and turned east toward Bliss, Michigan where we found a polo grounds. Yes, a polo ground in the middle of rural northern Michigan. We ended up on the shores of Lake Huron and playing on the beach before calling it a day and heading home.

This past weekend my sister in law and her son joined us by the lake – we had a good time – it was canoe race weekend and they followed the race downstream. We had a fun weekend together and it was good to see them. Sunday afternoon we were spectators to military exercises in the lake – across the lake is Camp Grayling, a National Guard Camp established in 1913.

O and I came home yesterday morning for band camp. We made good time as we roamed – I drove and she slept. O’s in the marching band and it’s this is her first year of high school. Friday Night Lights takes on an additional meaning this fall – first football with W, now the band and the drum line with O. I’ll still watch the games, but I’ll be watching a certain bass drummer at half time.

It’s August first, day 57 of summer break, and there are 19 days remaining in my summer break. I’ve roamed to Michigan and back, to North Carolina and back, and I’ll continue to,

Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without wings, without wheels
Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without anything but the love we feel

I’ve got tickets to see the Astros when they come to town next week and we’ve got tickets to the Coldplay concert the following week. There’s another trip north to the lake and hopefully we’ll have another guest, time will tell. There’s always somewhere to roam, something to do, some new way, or old way to celebrate summer. In the meantime, I need to roam around this place – my home – and get some things taken care of – chores, even in summer there are chores and jobs and tasks and things that need to get done. They are what makes roaming fun.

a foggy morning on the lake

Today is gonna be a great day, it could possibly be the best day ever, so I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. It’s a Tuesday’s Tune kinda day, Making the Days Count, one day at a time, one place at a time, roaming around the world.

Where did you roam this summer? Or where will you roam next time you take flight from home?

Roam – The B-52’s

I hear a wind
Whistling air
Whispering
In my ear

Boy Mercury shooting through every degree
Oh girl dancing down those dirty and dusty trails
Take it hip to hip, rocket through the wilderness
Around the world the trip begins with a kiss

Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without wings, without wheels
Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without anything but the love we feel

Skip the airstrip to the sunset, yeah
Ride the arrow to the target, one
Take it hip to hip, rock it through the wilderness
Around the world the trip begins with a kiss

Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without wings, without wheels
Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without anything but the love we feel

Fly the great big sky
See the great big sea
Kick through continents
Busting boundaries
Take it hip to hip, rocket through the wilderness
Around the world the trip begins with a kiss

Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without wings, without wheels
Roam if you want to
Roam around the world
Roam if you want to
Without anything but the love we feel

Take it hip to hip
Rocket through the wilderness
Take it hip to hip
Rocket through the wilderness
Take it hip to hip
Rocket through the wilderness
Take it hip to hip
Rocket through the wilderness
Take it hip to hip
Rocket through the wilderness
Take it hip to hip
Rocket through the wilderness
Take it hip to hip
Rocket through the wilderness
Take it hip to hip
Rocket through the wilderness

Songwriters: Cindy Wilson / Fred Schneider / Kate Pierson / Keith Strickland / Robert Waldrop

6 thoughts on “Tuesday’s Tune – ‘Roam’

    1. You are welcome, we have tickets to the Coldplay concert in a couple of weeks and I’m jammin’ to “Hymn for Weekend” as a I respond. Music is a soundtrack for our lives…and though T don’t… ‘feel drunk and high,’ the beat gives me a lift. It’s gonna be a great day. Thank you for stopping in – have a great weekend.

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