The Urge to Be Remembered

Like many folks my age, a short trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night is a pretty regular routine. But sometimes—and who knows why?— I crawl back under the covers and know immediately that I will have trouble falling back to sleep, 3 am be damned.

 

And so last night, in that twilight purgatory between sleep and awakening, I was thinking about Chad and Jeremy, about Peter and Gordon. Simon and Garfunkel joined them briefly, but they didn’t quite fit, so they faded out and I was left with these two British duos from the 60’s. 

 

Well, I was going to ask if you knew of them, but now I’ve given it away. Both groups had just a few hits and in my suspended state, somehow I could remember them. Chad and Jeremy sang Yesterday’s Gone  and A Summer Song, Peter and Gordon A World Without Love, all songs that hit the charts in 1963 and 1964. Both groups had a soft folk-rock vibe, both disappeared into rock obscurity within a few years and I hadn’t heard their songs nor thought about them in some 55 years. Why were they in my dreams?

 

Naturally, upon awakening, it was off to Wikipedia and found some interesting information about all four. I was just about to sign off when I saw this:

 

Chad Stuart died from pneumonia on December 20, 2020.

 

Ten days ago! Was his appearance in my dream some sign that he wanted to be remembered? And why me? The world is mysterious, unfathomable.

 

Well, here is my remembrance of these folks that lightened my days with their lovely songs and my thanks for their artistic efforts. I will listen to those songs today and I recommend you do as well. Chad needs our efforts to help send him off in style.