Cool Song

I remember I was 10 years old and was playing in the living room

One sunny Saturday morning

As my sister scrubbed the kitchen floor on her hands and knees

Hair tied in a bandana

The plug in zenith am radio with the big pink dial on the bench

Playing the popular songs of the day

“Memphis”, “Rag Doll”, “World Without Love”

And the DJ played Bob Dylan’s new single

“Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”

I took note of the song

With its lilt and irony

I didn’t even know what irony was

But I recognized it

Maybe in his voice, I don’t know.

I stopped with the tinker toys or erecter set or my younger brother’s torture

To sit quietly and feel the music.

I liked that guy.

I don’t know if it affected my sister much

She was probably in love with Tab Hunter or Neil Sedaka or something

Toiling on, on that Saturday kitchen floor

The important thing was

The music played

There was something about that tinny radio

With that crackling dial

And this cool music coming out

The kitchen bright and yellow

You could feel the 1960s coming on

New ways of looking at things were being discovered

And my sister hard at work with her chores

Thinking about her plans with Paul that night

for a date at Nino’s

And wondering why she is scrubbing the floor when she’ll be getting married in a few months.

And me being just a snot nosed kid with no worries in the world

With my sister’s radio soundtrack to my mindless play

A line from that Dylan song stuck with me though

“I gave her my heart but she wanted my soul”

I was yet to know what that line really meant

But I didn’t think twice about it

Everything was alright

for now.