Midnight At The Oasis

I just purchased Maria Muldaur's album that had the tune "Midnight At The Oasis" on it.

It's strange how my mind works sometimes. I remember the strangest things, or perhaps I remember things in the strangest ways sometimes. When I was a kid, probably about 11 or 12, maybe even 13, my best friend in the world was a guy named Dave. Our families were friendly too, we were on the same street in Detroit and when our families moved, they moved to the same street again, weird huh? We didn't know each other on the first street, as we were both small children (infant in his case and small toddler in my case). Anyhow, he and I were inseparable as kids, as he was probably my best friend for years till we both were in High School and then we drifted apart (we've have a curious tangential relationship since and of course our families were always pretty friendly).

Anyhow, when I was about 11 or 12 or thereabouts, "Midnight At The Oasis" was a hit, I however, was oblivious to this fact. Dave's elder brothers and sisters were a bit more hip than mine, and I think he might have been listening to a wider cross-section of pop music as a result. At anyrate, Dave who is a couple of years younger than I, which would have put him at 9 or 10, would sing the "Cactus is our friend" part of the song, in a weird sort of drone. At 12, having never heard the song, it sounded funny to me. Anyhow, whenever I hear that song, and make no mistake it's a wonderful song and I always listen to it when I hear it played, it makes me chucke inside about Dave's rendition and, for some reason, that song makes me profoundly sad as well. Odd how we remember things and strange how the mind processes such information, emotions, etc.

What this all makes me realize about myself is, that I am very tender inside. A trait I see in my young son. I think it's a good trait in many ways, but I worry because it's a tough old world out there and you've got to be strong to survive.

And remember always...."Cactus is our friend..."