June 18, 2023 (Song #1996): “Blossom” by James Taylor. T-46* brought me back to 1977 and 8th grade (and, weirdly, the SOTD is late today because in 8th grade I was a horrible procrastinator and, when I channelled my 13/14 year-old self, I suddenly felt the urge to do everything except the thing I was supposed to do. My mom is not laughing at this one…)

Weirdly, I chose today’s SOTD before realizing it was Father’s Day: this song will always make me think of my dad, an amazingly supportive father whose eyes are welling up with tears as he reads this.  When dad hears me start to play the first two measures of this song, he settles in for a long smile.  I learned this song from Terese Keenan, my guitar teacher after Linda Clifford; Linda must have moved away, or something, and I remember needing a new guitar teacher. All the cool girls at Bedford Junior High took guitar with Terese, thanks to Margaret Silverman, the ultimate cool girl.  Like Linda, Terese also lived in a very hippyish shabby-chic apartment above a garage on Red Coat Road and she would spend the first 2 minutes of our lesson hearing me play the song we’d learned the week before, then 5 minutes playing songs for me to choose from, then the next 15 minutes writing the new song out in my notebook. This left about 8 minutes for an actual lesson, but I didn’t care because I was so happy sitting in her space and absorbing all her hippy coolness.  If anyone knows were she is now, please tell her I say hi and thank you.  Happy Birthday To David Burke and Happy Father’s Day to all who celebrate!  LYRICS & CHORDS APPLE MUSIC SPOTIFY