THERE IS A SONG TO DOWNLOAD LINKED AT THE BOTTOM: READ ON!!
Matt and I had agreed to double date on homecoming my sophomore year of high school. I was bringing my girlfriend and Matt was bringing Ranj. We had a glorious plan including the premiere of the song, HOLDIN HEARTS, HOLDIN HANDS, to be sung as a duet to our dates.
Unfortunately, at the last minute, Matt crashed his car while trying to swat away a bee.
Well, so to underscore my feelings at the time, I was terrified. I had barely gotten my girlfriend to agree to go, much less take me back, and now we were about to ruin 2 girls’ homecoming night.
We had made up some story about going to the Silver Diner, a local fabrication of a 1950’s caboose restaurant, but really just an overpriced greasy spoon diguised as a theme restaurant (or was it the other way around). Suddenly, we became what seemed to be very upset at having forgotten the tickets to the dance. Matt rushed in his house to get the “tickets”, but after a moment waved us inside.
When the girls and I entered, candles were lit and Matt started playing his trusty (but slightly out of tune) piano.
I sang: CANDLES ON THE TABLE, SHADOWS ON THE FLOOR AND I CAN”T HELP BUT SMILE WHEN MY EYES ARE DRAWN TO YOURS.
then Matt: A LITTLE TOUCH OF ROMANCE CAN MAKE IT ALL SEEM RIGHT SO PROMISE ME YOU’LL FALL IN LOVE, IF JUST FOR THIS ONE NIGHT.
See, at the last minute, that night, Matt prepared the dinner as he sent me upstairs to complete the lyrics to the song. In a rush, I slapped together the sappiest bunch of hooey you’ve ever heard.. and we sang it with every ounce of our adolescent hearts.
The girls of course were swept away, and we enjoyed our Orange duck, served to us by our friend Van Lindberg.
At the dance, we alternated between dancing slow under the paper streamers in the cafeteria and reenacting show choir dances, sweating through our outfits.. (and matt got a lovely red stain from a streamer on his gray zoot suit) and having just a lovely time. We ended with a chaste but titillating night of PG rated hottub fun and brough our dates home fifteen minutes early, like good conservative boys.
Well, teenage romances are like a love letter set on fire.. it is all heat and sentimentality, but ultimately it is windblown and ashen and gone, and so too were the romantic affiliations from that memorable evening.
Later in the year, just before my relationship imploded over my teenage “jealous boyfriend” phase, matt and I performed our song under the name “The Harmony Brothers” on the stage of Quince Orchard High School to the cheers and applause of 2 high school generations of girls, ranging anywhere from 14 to 19. For that one moment, Matt and I were stars.
Don’t believe me? http://www.timpane.com/clapping.mp3
Now, I must admit, that song got me a fair number of dates in high school and even was one of my wife’s faves. Today, it seems naive and silly, but it remains a testament to the teenage heart, bereft of the jade that comes with heartbreak and full of the wonder we lose as we worry about bills and homes and jobs.
It has been twelve years since Matt, Ranj, Tiff, and I tripped the fluorescent lunchroom light fantastic, and what remains is the initial collaboration between Matt and myself. We rewrote and recorded it 3 times, and the MIDI for it a fourth, mixed it all together.. and so, if you’ve made it this far.. click below to experience the fluff it takes to charm the teenage heart. HOLDIN HEARTS, HOLDIN HANDS
http://www.timpane.com/holdin.mp3
EDIT by Matthew: Linked.
Saccharine…
Oh, My, that song was saccharine.
Promise me you’ll fall in love If just for this one night…
Oy, veh. That thing with Ranjani didn’t last long… I arrived in college a few months later, all the way across the country, and started dating like mad within the first week. I felt bad about totally abandoning her, but I was 18 and too stupid to realize at the very least I owed her a “Dear Jane”. She eventually sent me a letter saying basically, “Hey, dude, if you don’t respond to this letter, it’s over.”
I’d thought it was over long, long, long before 🙂
I often reflect on dates like that, where we totally wowed them. Even once you’re married, you get a lot of mileage out of taking the time to really dress up an occasion. I highly recommend it.
I was really sad about my Zoot Suit getting that nasty red stripe down the back from my sweat and a crepe paper scarf. Grr. Not that I’d have been able to fit into it any time within the last ten years, but I still loved it!
I may call the song “saccharine” now, but then it’s what I really thought true love was all about — writing beautiful songs, poignant lyrics, flash, panache, and saying the right things so she’d kiss me. How times have changed for me! And yet, for some talented kids growing up today, it’s the same story, different generation.
— Matthew P. Barnson
Changed lyric… when did that happen?
So I really just listened to the lyrics again, and…
HOLY FLYING BUTTMONKEYS, WHEN DID WE CHANGE THAT LYRIC???
Now it’s “Somehow I know we’ll fall in love for more than this one night”. And I freaking sung it, and I don’t even remember singing the lyric that way…
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Matthew P. Barnson
Recipe for Chicken A l’Orange
Here’s the recipe to the famous Chicken A l’Orange that Justin is referring to. Matt, you probably want to pretty this one up and add it to the recipe section. Sorry, I still don’t remember my password so this is from Mom, and I don’t really remember the last time I really wanted to be anonymous.
Anyway, The recipe comes from my favorite cookbook, the Vol. 5 of the American Cancer Society’s VIP Party Cookbook, published in l983. I purchased the cookbook from a friend at work who had recently lost her 18 year old daughter to Cancer, and was very active in the Washington DC Chapter.
The recipes featured in the cookbook are from the Washington Elite at that time, and this recipe came from Madeline Brenner, Falls Church Virginia. I made this for a dinner for 16 last week and one of my guests raved that it was the very best chicken he had ever eaten. It was a hit with the other guests too. I made both batches at once in a giant roaster, and added extra breasts and thighs.
Here it is.
Double Batch Chicken A l’Orange Serves 8 Bake: 375 1 hour Preparation: 30 min.
2 3-lb broiler-fryer chickens, quartered salt, pepper, paprika 1/2 C flour 1/4 C melted butter or margarine 2 large onions, sliced 1/2 C chopped green pepper 1 C sliced mushrooms 1/4 C sherry (I do use cooking wine) 2 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar 1 tsp. salt 2 tsp. grated orange rind 3 Tbsp. water 2 Tbsp. cornstarch (or 1 Tbsp ultra gel) heavy-duty aluminum foil 2 C orange juice
Wash and dry chicken. Sp[rinkle with salt, pepper, paprika. Roll pieces in flour. Line 2 two-quart caseroles with foil. Divide chicken between casseroles. Sprinkle over eadch onion, green pepper, mushrooms.
In a sauce pan, mix orange juice, sherry, brown sugar, salt, and orange rind. Add melted butter. Mix water and cornstarch. Stir into orange juice mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixtures thickens. Pour equal portions over both bathes. Bake, uncovered.
Freeze the uncooked batch. When frozen solid, remove from casserole. Wrap tightly in foil. Return to freezer. When ready to bake, place frozen batch in casserole. Bake at 400 for 1 1/2 hours,k covedred. Remove cover, cook another half hour. Garnish with fresh orange slices and parsley.
Very cool!
Very cool; thanks for posting it! As soon as I get some spare time, I’ll put this into the recipes for the site. I remember, it was pretty darn good 🙂
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Matthew P. Barnson