KEVIN McCORRY, HOST: I’m Kevin McCorry and this is ‘Jukebox Journey.’
[MUSIC MONTAGE: “My Old School” by Steely Dan, “Be True to Your School” by The Beach Boys, “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” by The Ramones,.]
KM: We’re unstuck in time, jumping through decades and genres, meditating on a theme.
This week: New school year, new you.
[MUSIC: “School Days” by Chuck Berry]
KM: From 1957, Chuck Berry
[MUSIC SWELL]
Remember the feeling of starting high school?
Maybe you were insecure about who you were seen as in the grades before — pigeonholed as too bookish, too sensitive, too nerdy, too weird. A new year in a new building with new classmates offers an opportunity to clean the slate, a chance for reinvention.
[MUSIC: “Thirteen” by Big Star]
KM: From 1972, Big Star.
Ok, reinvention, but who or what to become?
[MUSIC MONTAGE: “Wonderful World” by Sam Cooke, “Popular” by Nada Surf, “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheetus.]
KM: Sam Cooke from 1960, Nada Surf from 1996, Wheetus from ‘99.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: Part of the reason those high school years can be so difficult is because you don’t really know how the world works, but you still need to sort out how you fit into it.
[MUSIC: “Fifteen” by Taylor Swift]
KM: From 2008, an 18 year old Taylor Swift.
As a kid, so much of who we are is a reflection of how our parents see us.
What the teenage years give us is a chance to create our own vision, in part by choosing our friends. We pick people who reflect something back that we want to affirm, traits we want to see in ourselves.
[MUSIC: “Changes” by Charles Bradley]
KM: Charles Bradley from 2016.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: If we’re lucky we find a blend of friends who push us and each other to evolve….the right mix of responsible and hardworking, but wild, ambitious and bold, funny and creative.
[MUSIC: “Who You Are” by Pearl Jam]
KM: Pearl Jam from 1996
The reinvention doesn’t come easy. There’s the pain of pushing away from friends from younger years who you find yourself outgrowing — those you want to reflect your past, not your future.
[MUSIC: “Damien” by DMX.]
DMX, from 1998,
And then there’s navigating the haters, the naysayers, the bullies, or as Bob Dylan sang in 1965:
[MUSIC: “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” by Bob Dylan]
[LYRICS: “Cares not to come up any higher, but rather get you down in the hole that he’s in.”]
KM: But with support from your friends, you start to see your insecurities as assets. And that’s where the real reinvention happens. It’s not conforming. It’s emerging from the cocoon with the confidence to be the you that you were searching for all along.
[MUSIC: “Move On Up” by Curtis Mayfield.]
Curtis Mayfield from 1970.
[MUSIC SWELL]
As time goes by, there’s fewer definitive refresh points in life, clear invitations for change. The treadmill just runs. You can blink and find yourself on a path you’re not sure why you are traveling.
But what the school days teach us is that we do hold the power to reshape our narrative, even if it means the pain of shaking loose from people who don’t reflect our new vision and finding people who do.
And when we’re at that place, there’s only one thing to do.
[MUSIC: “Shower the People” by James Taylor]
KM: James Taylor from 1976.
I’m Kevin McCorry and this has been a Jukebox Journey on WHYY.
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