Sweet Sixteen

Once in a while, a song will pop into my head and refuse to leave. When this happens, its usually a tune I really liked at one time, but haven't heard in decades. Memories of where I first heard it, who I was dating, and whatever issues were afflicting me at that time will haunt me until I look up the song on Youtube or Spotify and listen to it a million times until I'm finally sick of it.

This week, Billy Idol's "Sweet Sixteen" has been on loop in my brain. I've looked it up, listened to it, but the crooning voice over the chiming guitar is still on continuous replay. I think the song originally came out while I was dating a girl born without knee caps (true story). She liked George Michael and subjected me to every song he ever recorded from his Wham days to his first solo effort. I remember thinking he looked a bit gay and telling this to my girlfriend. She aggressively defended his masculinity and said all male singers of the time looked feminine.

I don't remember Mr. Idol ever looking all that feminine.

Almost twenty-five years later, times have changed. Billy Idol spends more of his time being a dad and less of it being a rock star, George Michael came out of the closet, and I married a girl with knee caps.