name that tune...

[procrastination brings memories]

...calling Emily...
...calling Emily...

I can still remember the techno static coming through the old speakers in my living room.

The brown speakers lived near the fish tank back in the day when we'd use our fireplace door handles and a chair to make a clotheline. This was after the record player was gone, though. Years of "discovering" that jumping up and down made the record skip had ended the poor electronic life.

But sometimes, the weird space noises and opening lines of the music would come through those speakers and I would start to squeal.

hey emily
it's your birthday
i'm in charge of the stars
and i'm here to say
hey emily
you're the big star today!

I'm not sure how my mom found the Happy Birthday Tapes. I think they were at Toys R Us, probably. They were exactly the same except for the name. I wish I could remember more of the words. It's possibly about as corny as you can get.

i'm the man in the moon
and i sing you this tune

But Captain Spaceman was singing me a birthday song. Me. The Emily Song. I squealed and fussed and was angry that they played it to laugh at my reaction. But really, I only reacted because it made them laugh. Sometimes I wished that it would be my birthday more often. I would bring it up and pretend like I hated it. "Just please don't play the Emily tape..." I'd start to hint before my birthday. Sometimes they wouldn't, but sometimes the would, and I was the star for one and a half minutes.

Childhood vanity? Absolutely. Spotlight seeking? Still. Have I gotten better about hiding it? Not really.

But today, I thought of that tape and it made me realize how far I've come...and how far I have to go. Maybe I'll try to dig around and find it this week.

see you next yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeear!