SoCS — Faded Photographs

Fandango

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has instructed us to find a picture — the closest one to you — and then to write about the title and/or the lyrics of the first song that comes to mind when you look at the picture.

Alrighty then. Here’s the picture.DBA23CDA-202A-44A8-93CE-5251508866EAThis old, sun-faded photograph is in one of those photo cubes and it sits on the corner of my desk in my home office. I was at my computer paying bills via online banking and I took a break from the task at hand and checked my WordPress reader, where I saw Linda’s Friday reminder post.

The faded photo shows my girlfriend at the time — and now my wife — sitting on my motorcycle as she and I were embarking on a cross-country motorcycle camping trip. In case you can’t tell from her bell-bottoms, tank top, and long, dark, Indian Princess-like hair, this was taken in 1976.

The first song that came to mind when I looked at the old photo was the one that actually has the words “faded photographs” in the lyrics. I couldn’t remember the name of the song I was thinking about, so I googled “faded photographs” and found the song “Traces,” from the Classics IV.

It was released in 1969 and it’s a simple song about a man who looks back on a love he lost and still longs for.

Other than the “faded photographs” lyric in the song, my wife’s and my story is nothing like what is described in the song’s lyrics. No love lost in our case. We married about two years after this photo was taken and we will be celebrating our 42nd wedding anniversary next month.

The lyrics are:

Faded photographs, covered now with lines and creases
Tickets torn in half, memories in bits and pieces
Traces of love, long ago, that didn’t work out right
Traces of love

Ribbons from her hair, souvenirs of days together
The ring she used to wear, pages from an old love letter
Traces of love, long ago, that didn’t work out right
Traces of love, with me tonight

I close my eyes and say a prayer
That in her heart, she’ll find, a trace of love still there,
Somewhere, oh

Traces of hope, in the night, that she’ll come back and dry
These, traces of tears, from my eyes
Oh oh oh oh

17 thoughts on “SoCS — Faded Photographs”

  2. bikerchick57 July 11, 2020 / 5:52 am

    Happy forty-two years together! That’s a great photo of your biker chick love.

    Reminds me of my biking days, all packed up and ready to go somewhere to have an adventure. I imagine you and your wife have had plenty of them.

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    • Fandango July 11, 2020 / 7:46 am

      We did, but our motorcycle camping road trip days are behind us.

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    • Fandango July 11, 2020 / 7:50 am

      Yep, it popped into my head when I saw that faded photo. I need to figure out if I can get it restored and bring it back to life.

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  6. ghostmmnc July 11, 2020 / 1:37 pm

    Sweet photo and so nice to look back at the photos of our past adventures. I always liked this song, too. 🙂

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  7. Marleen July 11, 2020 / 2:27 pm

    Wow. Great old song. And fantastic picture. (She has a very similar look to my [ex] sister-in-law.)

    I don’t normally read from this magazine, but just so happen to have {due to having read an article about Bonhoeffer prior} been reading this article before I read your post: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/july-august/marriage-save-church-declining-christians-global.html [I have mixed feelings about the article, carrying a bit of a punched-in-the-gut sense from “conservatism” and marriage (but largely due to my right-wing mother’s influence and control in my, especially early, life). They (Christians/righties) are reaping what they’ve sewn (the downward trend), even while this article is somewhat optimistic in their own estimation. The most hopeful signs I noticed, while reading at the site, were hints of not being sold out to “conservatism” as has been the destructive decades-long packaging. For instance, there was an advertisement (aimed toward people who will work at churches) saying that everyone deserves fair pay.]

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  9. leigha66 July 13, 2020 / 4:00 pm

    Old photographs are wonderful to have. I know a couple of places in my little town that restore old pictures. I’m sure you can find a restoration place there.

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