Robs' Blog: incoherencies from an american ex-pat in exotic beijing,
  or: how i learned to stop worrying and love bureaucracy

I was 11 when Songs in the Key of Life was released by Stevie Wonder. It was 1976. I think this was about the time that Dad had setup the living room of our house in the woods of Healdsburg with big speakers and a decent stereo system.

I think the music around our house at that time was, well, disco. I'm gonna skip going into further details about it for fear of the flashbacks it might cause.

In any event, into this atmosphere came Steveland, with this unbelievably crafted album of lyrics that had meaning and sounds that blended together to take you off to church, the dance floor, and into the safe confines of a large easy chair at the same time.

As, how do I describe the effect that such as a song had on me? Forget about the past tense... has on me... smiling, closing my eyes, sometimes crying, nodding my head, Until the day is night and night becomes the day---ALWAYS, pursing my lips, trying to sing, failing miserably, always, head bobbing, biting my lower lip, everytime that I hear it, turning up the stereo, So make sure when you say you're in it but not of it You're not helping to make this earth a place sometimes called Hell, more head bobbing, always.