Life Is So Strange ... Destination Unknown ... and no ... that's not Lady F*#king Gaga!
- Mar 10, 2020
- 4 min read
Often times, people ask me what my favorite song is, or what my top ten favorite songs are. I've had a hard time answering these questions because of my varying tastes, moods, states of being, age and relative consciousness but I've come up with a solution ...
I present the songs that have managed to continually intrigue and affect my perception and life through the series, "Songs That Have Legs".
I begin with Missing Persons' Destination Unknown.
The year was 1981. I was 12 and it was L.A. Fucking LA! Fucking Beverly Hills.
The yearly summer family vacation took the Keviches' (my peoples) through Yellowstone, the Grand Titans, Mono Lake, and a giant ball of twine. Mosquitoes the likes of which the folks at RAID would be terrified of. A near death experience with my sister when we almost (quite literally and unbeknownst to us) ran off the Grand Canyon. The bright lights of Reno. Some sourdough bread. Almost loosing a pinky whilst slicing a pear in a traffic jam through the mountains of Colorado ... and a trip up Rodeo Drive.
On a stroll up said Drive, we passed by the Vidal Sassoon salon. Vidal was my guy (yes I had wonderfully feathered hair back then). Outside of his salon, there was this alluring music being pumped onto the streets of LA with a collection of stacked and hanging TV's broadcasted a scantily clad blond with pink striped hair who sang a song that pricked up my eyebrows and ears.
I could hear my uncle laughing while he kept my impatient father at bay as they watched me get mesmerized by this modern day siren. "They're a new band. Sometimes she just wears a plastic bra with tinfoil covering her nipples".
Well, this got everybody's attention! So I then had my family peering over my shoulders as we were now all under the siren's spell.
Life is so strange ...
When you don't know ... How can you tell?
Where you're going to? You can't be sure of any situation Something could change and then you won't know
She (Dale Bozzio) was wearing a see-through plastic cup bra on with a strip of aluminum foil covering her nipples and a matching see-thru skirt. Her hair was huge, bleach blond, with a streak of fuchsia pink. (Check out the video below and tell me that Lady Gaga didn't snatch this look up). The guys had hair just as big with lipstick and eyeliner to match.
"They're called Missing Persons and the song is Destination Unknown," my uncle continued. My mother's response was "Oh, I know their destination... :( :( :( ".
I was pulled away from Vidal's salon kicking and screaming but luckily a year later, Dione Warwick brought my siren back to me via the great music variety show, Solid Gold.
"Life is so strange"... Zzzzdt! I was so excited! ...
You ask yourself... Where do we go from here? It seems so all to near Just as far beyond as I can see I still don't know what this all means to me
The path of a "destination unknown" has somewhat driven most of my life and I like that. To me there's something soothing albeit terrifying, to the unknown. Planning stupefies me while delving into the unknown challenges and inspires me. It has given me more strength and courage throughout the years and it's uncovered so many of life's treasures and beauties that I am forever grateful for.
You tell yourself ... I have nowhere to go I don't know what to do And I don't even know the time of day I guess it doesn't matter any way
I've always had a hidden admiration of those that have had their destinations known, or at least planned out and for the most part, have arrived at those destinations (and yes I know, not everything is what it seems) but I still admire, however not my path.
Life is so strange Destination unknown When you don't know Your destination And Something could change It's unknown And then you won't know Destination unknown
Almost every time I've made a concrete decision on a major part of my life, nature or the gods or fate or karma or a roll of pan-sexual acrobatic armadillos have tossed a curve ball into my well thought out plans. A cosmic bitch-slap of sorts saying "Nah, son ... that ain't where you're going". Somehow letting me know that I didn't look at the big picture or I'd forgotten about something or another.
Life is so strange Destination unknown When you don't know Your destination (Could) Something could change (?) It's unknown And then you won't know Destination unknown
There comes a price with living in the unknown. Often times there is fear and loneliness. Questions like; 'Why am I still here?' 'Is there a point to this?' 'Have I exhausted my purpose?' 'What the fuck am I doing?' frequently shoot across my bow. My answer to these questions continues to be 'Unknown' but a voice somewhere in my jumbled up coconut points to a new direction and says "You ain't done yet. Ya got a lot to learn still, so get on with it."
You ask yourself When will my time come? Has it all been said and done? I know I'll leave when it's my time to go 'Til then I'll carry on with what I know
life is so strange ... Life's so strange ... and something could change ...
Destination Unknown
I listen to this song today and I have even more affinity to it, albeit with a greater sense of understanding and relating. Life is strange and wonderful and terrifying and heartwarming. I am thankful for the lot. Every single morsel. I love the unknown and being surprised by it and myself.
I hope you enjoy the song that I've loved for almost 39 years...
life's so strange
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