February 2: Waiting For A Girl Like You

God damn, this is a smooth song.

This is probably the best recorded example of the vocal talents of the Roc’s own Louis Grammatico. A ballad that combines early ‘80s atmospheric synth with soulful romance, the song was a revelation, one that eschewed the hard rock flavor the band had hitherto been associated with, and doomed its commercial futures to Adult Contemporary purgatory.

I associate this song with a day spent in Western New York not long after my sister, mother and I had returned from our own purgatory in the panhandle of Florida. It was a gloomy day fraught with rain, and we paid a visit to the Canandaigua grave of my grandfather and grandmother, who had died during our exile. The moody minor key latched onto my consciousness and I can’t separate it from the feeling of mourning something I was unable to comprehend.

This is one of the earliest memories I have of music affecting me so deeply, and there is not a day that goes by where, whether new or old, at least one piece of music speaks directly to my heart every day.