lonely

WDP — The Upside of Failure

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Daily writing prompt
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?
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I had been told when I was in college that I had a “radio voice.” Several my friends suggested that I would make a great disc jockey and I found the idea of being a “radio personality” very appealing. I happened to personally know a writer for the local newspaper who wrote a music and teen beat column and he told me that if I took and passed the Federal Communications Commission’s Third Class Operator test, he could get me a job spinning records.

I took the test, I passed the test, and, true to his word, I got a job at a local AM Top 40 radio station in a rural farming community. That was the good news. The bad news is that I was offered the graveyard shift, midnight to 6 am. on Friday through Sunday nights.

Do you know who listens to a DJ on a Top 40 rural AM radio station from midnight to 6 am on weekends? Nobody!

What I learned in three months as a disc jockey was that it was a lonely job — especially between midnight and six am — and I decided that I needed more social interaction, so I quit and didn’t look back. Ultimately I went back to school and got my masters degree in healthcare and systems administration.

Was my failure to continue to persue, after three months on the graveyard shift at a rural radio station, a mistake? Could I have had a rewarding career as a radio or voice personality if I’d have stuck with it? Perhaps. But I ended up with a rewarding career that I can look back on in my retirement with no regrets

Thursday Inspiration — Alone and Lonely

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For this week’s Thursday Inspiration prompt, Jim Adams has asked us to respond to this challenge by either using the word alone, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘Sexy Eyes’, or by going with another song by Dr. Hook, or with anything else that we think fits.

Before I get too far into my response to this prompt, let me clarify something. Many people associate the word “alone” as being synonymous with the word “lonely.” But I believe these words have very different meanings. Being alone is being by one’s self. Being lonely is feeling abandoned or sad due to isolation. So “alone” refers to a state of solitude, whereas “lonely” refers to an emotion.

That said, the kid in the photo above is definitely alone and I would venture to say that he’s lonely, as well.

Okay, with that out of the way I’m going with a song from Irish singer/songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan, “Alone Again (Naturally).” The song was released in 1971 and it became a worldwide hit featured on his second studio album, Back to Front.

Songfacts has called this song “one of the most depressing songs ever written.” It tells a sad tale of a lonely, suicidal man being left at the altar and then telling the listener about the death of his parents.

The song connected with listeners on various levels: the downtrodden could commiserate with the singer, and the lucky ones who were not in this position were reminded of their good fortune. It sold 2 million copies, spent six weeks at the top of the U.S. charts and earned O’Sullivan three Grammy Award nominations (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year). It was the second best-selling single of the year in America, behind Don McLean’s “American Pie.”

O’Sullivan has denied that this song is autobiographical or about the death of his father when he was 11. He said, “Everyone wants to know if it’s an autobiographical song, based on my father’s early death. Well, the fact of the matter is, I didn’t know my father very well, and he wasn’t a good father anyway. He didn’t treat my mother very well.”

One-Liner Wednesday — Bad Company

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“If you are lonely when you are alone, then you are in bad company.”

Jean-Paul Sartre, French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic

Written for Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt. Hand drawn portrait of Jean-Paul Sartre by Domenico Condello

Thursday Inspiration — Lonely Boy

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For this week’s Thursday Inspiration post from Jim Adams, he gave us the image above and the word “lonely.” My mind immediately took me to the 1959 Paul Anka song, “Lonely Boy.”

Anka had a talent for writing about the teenage experience in the 50s. “I was a lonely boy and I’d see these lonely boys at all these hops,” he said in the cover notes on his Greatest Hits album.

Anka was just 16 in 1957 when his song “Diana” topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, making him an international star. He quickly became one of the biggest stars of the late ’50s. But he felt there was something missing. “In moving around so much, I never had time to spend with the people really close to me,” he said. “I wanted to experience more than just the success syndrome.

In this song, Anka revealed that, despite his success, he was still lonely: “I’ve got everything you could think of / But all I want is someone to love.” He said, “I was reaching out, saying, ‘Hey, I want somebody to share this with me.’”

When I was researching this song, I came across another song by the same name. Andrew Gold had an international hit with his song, “Lonely Boy,” in 1977. It spent five months on the American charts, peaking at number seven in both Canada and the United States, and number 11 in the United Kingdom.

Gold’s “Lonely Boy” is about the life of a child who is neglected by his parents after the birth of a younger sister. Many assume this song was autobiographical, yet Gold has denied this, despite great similarities between the lyrics and Gold’s own life. The lyric, “He was born on a summer day in 1951” matches Gold’s August 1951 birthday, and “In the summer of ‘53 his mother / Brought him a sister” matches his sister’s birthday.”

Which “Lonely Boy” song do you like better?

Thursday Inspiration — Lonely Teardrops

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I wake up every morning since you’ve been gone and my pillow is soaked from having cried all night long.

I can’t believe that you left me after all we’ve been through together. My heart is broken and I can’t stop these lonely teardrops streaming from my eyes.

Won’t you please come home and give our love just one more chance? I know if you do we can rekindle our romance.

Please, my darling, say that you will come back home to me. You won’t regret it my love. Just say you will. Please say you will.

Written for Jim Adams’ Thursday Inspiration prompt, with a special not to Jackie Wilson.