Guess Wheel(Updated)
"You walk through the doorway thinking that you're so damn smart and all my first impressions are fading fast."
"Guess Wheel"
Puddles of Joy
Whenever I hear the song that contains this lyric or any songs by the now defunct local band Puddles of Joy, I am transported almost eleven years back in time. I am transported to the dark, smoky atmosphere of the long closed Electric Wave on Hampton Beach.
If I close my eyes I can still hear the voices and see the faces of those that used to figuratively and literally live there. I can see the face of the owner who went from being just the owner to being a friend. I can see the bartender having my drink of choice on the bar before I even got all the way in the door; it was usually on the bar before I even got across the parking lot. I can hear the DJ announcing my presence in the dancing portion of the club, with a distinct "Oooohhhh Roberta". He became a friend and to this day still is. I can hear the bouncer who had a handful of catchphrases he would shout out at the end of the night. My favorite was always, "If you aren't with the band, you've got to go." This phrase was never directed at my girlfriends and I because we were the 'chosen ones' by the guys in the band, we were always allowed to stay.
Once Puddles of Joy would take the stage, our evening was always guaranteed to be entertaining. We never knew what to expect from the boys because, with the exception of the drummer, the other three boys in the band would have been drinking for several hours prior to getting on stage. They would continue to drink once they had gotten on stage.
Curt once told me when this lyric was written with a girl in mind who used to hang around with my girlfriend and me. I never know when he is yanking my chain or not but knowing the girl it would not have surprised me in the least. Somehow this particular lyric had gone from being about the girl who thought she was better then everyone else to the girl who just wanted to blend in with everyone else.
Almost eleven years later, whenever Puddles of Joy gets together to play the occasional gig, Curt goes out of his way to point me out to the crowd when he sings this line. The first time he did this I was offended that he would compare me to the girl who thought she was better then everyone else and I told him as much. He explained to me as only he could in his very inebriated state that the first part of the lyric was not directed towards me but the second part was. He told me that after having several conversations with me and getting me to open up, which was something I never did when other people were around, his first him impressions had faded. Only after thinking very hard could he remember he thought I was a quiet and introspective. After almost eleven years and several different band incarnations, containing various combinations of band members all of our first impressions have faded.