I’m going to continue on with the Mom theme this week…but I want to lighten it up! So this week’s song is the one that truly reminds me of her. She loved her some Boy George (as well as Zamfir, Michael Burgess and Jesse Winchester among others – yes, I see where my eclectic taste in music comes from!).
If you asked me to describe my mom, I would say she was traditional but open minded. This combination led to some hilarious conversations over the years. I remember her asking me about my girlfriend who was on to her second serious boyfriend in her mid-twenties. My mom said, ‘so does that mean that she would have had sex with both of them??’ But after pointing out that by her age my mom was married and had three kids…and that really, people have needs…she got it. And she would tease me with the ‘people have needs’ line after that.
But my favourite ‘lifestyle’ convo by far happened when I was looking for a new apartment. My friends, who happen to be gay, got me an ‘in’ at a rent controlled place and my mom and I went to check it out. We met the landlords. They were the grossest couple I’ve ever seen. Smokes hanging out of their mouths, wife-beater tank, no bra…they were the the couple from hell. After signing the lease, we had lunch with my friends. When we left, my mom said, ‘I love them sooo much, but I just can’t picture the whole sex thing.’ To which I replied, ‘would you rather picture them having sex OR my new landlords?’. She stopped, nodded her head and then we both burst out laughing. She got it.
Then I told her Boy George was gay…..’REALLY??’…. yes mom really. I don’t think I ever told her about Elton John. Somethings are better left unsaid. So enjoy the classic that is Karma Chameleon.
We wanted to play it at her funeral….but we didn’t think the organist would know it…it would have been awesome and she would have loved it.
Love that you posted a Culture Club song because from the moment I heard “Do you really want to hurt me?” to the band’s ultimate demise they were my absolute favorite. I was the oddball at school who didn’t get what all the fuss about Michael Jackson was while I was getting my mum to braid ribbons into my hair and wearing fingerless gloves. When I was 11 years old my mother took me to see my first concert… Culture Club at Maple Leaf Gardens. After the concert we were waiting for my dad to pick us up and a car full of boys drove by and one yelled out “Culture Club sucks c**k”. A lady standing next to use pulled out her cigarette and yelled, “F**k you!”. My mum smiled and these are some of my Culture Club memories.
On another note, after it first came out that Boy George had drug problems I was devastated. I was a kid and thought things were black and white and my idol was a junkie and that was it. My mum came home to find me upset and said, “He’s not a bad person. You should still love him and pray for him.” Another reminder of my mum’s loving heart.
I loved bringing up the sex theme with my mom…she was so uncomfortable
with the thought of me having sex without marriage, but at the same time
she knew it was the reality of the day!! I remember talking about a trip
I was taking with my then boyfriend out west at the age of 22. I told her
“you know mom, we will be sharing a bed…you know that right???” She
was peeling potatoes at the time…that potato peeler was moving faster and
faster as she tried to deal with the conversation!! “I know, I know” she said…no
break in her peeling!! …no eye contact as she focused on those potatoes!! She had around six proposals of marriage before she married my dad…she was working in Washington DC during the war years and shortly after the war…She was a virgin (and I know she didn’t lie on that one) when she married my dad at 24…how
life had changed by the mid seventies!! As open minded as she was, and
she was a very accepting person, the whole virgin until you’re married thing
was still where she was at. When my husband stayed at my parents’ home
before the wedding, we still had to stay in separate rooms, despite the fact that
we had been living together almost a year!! She would be 87 years old today…
I would love to know how she would have responded to all the living together
before marriage that is so common now…four of her grandchildren have lived
together before marriage…my dad came around and never even mentioned it…I guess that would have happened for her too… but who knows??
One of my favourite songs of all time…at the time. I have to admit, I don’t really like it anymore, except for the memories. However, if it comes on the radio I’m singing along.
Boy George did make a statement.
Elton John is gay?! LOL
I love that!!!
Culture Club was my first concert and it was my favourite Aunty Helen who took me. She was as obsessed with Boy George as I was, although she did refrain from plastering her bedroom walls with his posters. Me 13, she 40! She has since passed away and whenever I hear Culture Club, I am reminded of her and that magical concert. It was in Brisbane, Australia and I remember BG saying that the venue was so small he felt like the whole audience was looking up his nose. My aunty loved Elton John too. I think Diane and Helen would have enjoyed meeting each other. Who knows, maybe they’re up there bopping to Boy George and Elton as we speak!