FIRST THINGS FIRST: Direct your device to the platform of your choice to have at the ready today’s song, “Big Time” by Peter Gabriel. YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music
I'm on my way, I'm making it
I've got to make it show, yeah
So much larger than life
Peter Gabriel’s album titled “So” drove my boom box during Freshman year at university. Its audacious lyrics and crisp instrumentation radiated from hits like “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time.”
Hold on there Champ…
Pause: “Hey Gen-Xer, the reader might not know that song.”
Oops, listen to Big Time in the background by clicking here. Seriously, let it play as you read on.
I am the furthest thing from the lyrical attitude of “Big Time.” But oh, that perfectly mixed synth anthem sounded So brilliant booming from a stereo.
Spring Break!
Spring Break beckoned. In mere hours, the student exodus would start.
My dorm mates packed swimsuits, flip flops, and Coppertone. I packed sweatshirts, longjohns, and a carton of Marlboro cigarettes (I didn’t smoke).
My dorm mates prepped for cliche destinations like Panama City Beach and South Padre. I relished this opportunity to spend my first college Spring Break in…
The Soviet Union
The Soviet Union? (That explains the Marlboros. You (still) won’t find a more valuable trading currency for souvenirs)
I only learned of the trip a couple months earlier. I’d been waiting for a pizza delivery one evening in my dorm lobby. I noticed a small brochure, printed on dull goldenrod paper advertising a two-week “Soviet Seminar” trip the following March.
The place where I come from is a small town
They think so small
They use small words
But not me
True, my university town population only registered 22,000. My hometown area exceeded 150,000. But the satirical and belittling lyrics hit the mark when naysayers asked why I wanted to visit “commie” territory.
Easy guys! Commie territory? Have you no sense of adventure? And, if you’re worried about communist thinking, you should hear some of my old lefty professors’ close-to-commie commentary. And they’re in this territory.
I'm smarter than that
I worked it out
Back off man, I’m a (Political) Scientist
I was an aspiring political scientist, thank you very much! (I chose a “political science” major to avoid saying, I was an “Undeclared” major).
I couldn’t miss this opportunity to see history. The stars aligned when the financial aid officer approved a slight increase to support my fact-finding adventure. The nice man committed a slight breach of etiquette in the process: He neglected to contact my parents who were co-signers on my loan. I was ignorant of this part of the process. Honestly!
No matter, Political Scientists have to see the world. I was making it happen. I visited Germany twice in high school. Just nine months later, and after a freshly fallen Berlin Wall, I was about to add Moscow, Tbilisi, Leningrad, and Tallinn to my repertoire.
I've had enough, I'm getting out
To the city, the big big city
I'll be a big noise with all the big boys
I could scarcely describe my anticipation. This was a Big Time for me.
I pored over maps and globes since I could remember. As an elementary school kid, I watched ABC’s World News Tonight with my grandparents. I remember eight-year-old me crying for the American hostages in Iran not being able to come home for Christmas. I was dialed in.
This hopeless history geek was heading to the seat of Cold War enemy territory.
Big time
I'm on my way-I'm making it
I get a free hi-definition mental video reel with every play of the song “Big Time.”
Fast forward to a bakery in Helsinki, Finland.
Finland? Yes, Helsinki.
We flew from Central Wisconsin to Minneapolis to New York’s JFK airport. We barely made it in time for our overbooked transatlantic flight.
I got bumped to First Class! Whoa! Cushy seats, adult beverages, and free swag like slippers, a sleep mask, and a small pouch with travel size sundries.
Big time
I’m on my way-I’m making it
Our seventy-something strong gaggle of students and professors from Wisconsin’s archipelago of state universities spent the day around the Nordic capital. Our night train to Moscow would depart at 10 PM.
Big Time Political Scientist though I was, I nearly fainted when the statuesque blonde creature behind the pastry case asked in accented English “May I help you?” Her deep blue eyes and kind smile drove pastries out of my mind.
I fought the urge to answer with another question: “Will you marry me?”
Big time
I'm on my way-I'm making it
Our Helsinki-to-Moscow night train burned indelible memories into my senses. Plodding, clunking passenger cars prevented deep sleep. Pungent rest rooms assaulted my nostrils. Countless moonlit, desolate villages passed our windows all night.
Moscow’s ubiquitous concrete tenements drearily stared through morning fog. The stench of heating oil struck me as the train crawled through the city for more than an hour.
My parties all have big names
And I greet them with the widest smile
Tell them how my life is one big adventure
And always they're amazed
Moscow and other sites too numerous to mention stood incongruent against these lyrics.
Days later, a couple of us students stepped into a record store in Moscow’s Arbat district. Street musicians, sketch artists, and others not appearing in Soviet propaganda gave a lively flair for those few blocks.
To my surprise and delight, I noticed Peter Gabriel’s iconic staring-into-the-middle-distance album cover. Instead of the great big “So” lettering, it bore the Cyrillic form of “Peter Gabriel.”
That album was put there for me to find. My dorm friends wouldn’t find this at a Florida surf shop!
Big time
I'm on my way, I'm making it
Big time
Many more fascinating adventures filled our trip. Terrifying domestic Aeroflot flights, raucous hotel bar music sing-alongs, face-to-face meetings with Russian students…
I get a free hi-definition mental video reel with every play of the song “Big Time.”
Jot it down now!
Before you go anywhere, write or type or talk into your notes app and list songs that evoke memories. Keep going as long as you can.
Come back later and think about how these tunes pull up thoughts you haven’t had in a while.
How can you use music now to make a memory for yourself, your family, your coworkers, etc.
What song takes you to another place? What experiences can fuel your classroom or workspace creativity?
For those who made it to the end and did not cue up the Big Time song, go ahead and do it now. In fact, here’s the link to the official music video. It’s Big Time crazy.