In Memory Of...

-written by Jeremy Gloff 

-appears on Still Feel It (1994)
-for Ralph Gaszynski
(January 1, 1974-July 4, 1994)




THE STORY:
It was the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the summer.  Danielle ran into the room and told us our friend Ralph had drowned.  And a room became dead and silent.  I’d grown up with Ralph.  We played touch football. He made everyone laugh.  And he’s still missed all these years later…

THE LYRICS:

Me my cousin and the Polish boy were the best of friends
Cause when you’re thirteen it didn’t matter who were your friends
All that mattered were bikes cars, and girls and having fun
For me, my cousin, and the Polish boy

Then the bleach came in
My friends changed their hair and their friends
By the time I was seventeen
I had gotten too strange for them
Two more blank faces in the hallway
Blank faces, my cousin Josh
And the Polish boy

Ralph became a drinker
He moved to Carolina to find sobriety
Another picture in my yearbook
Remembered for notoriety
And he was no more than a blank memory…
Why should I care about this boy?
We’re not thirteen anymore…

Now I’m going on twenty
In a hot, cheap apartment downtown
A weird feeling hits the air
Danielle ran into the room, and D.R. broke the news
The lake had taken the Polish boy

It’s like I didn’t know you anymore
Time makes people strangers
Are you the same boy as before
When we were teenagers?
I thought, “should I go to the wake
It’s been so Goddamn long…”
It’s been too long
And I didn’t get to say goodbye
So I offer you my song…

So I send this song out to you
It’s the least that I can do
Rest in peace
We loved you.

.<-----return to STILL FEEL IT
<-----return to main menu