WIL – Danny Dark – January 4, 1963 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
1963. Scary times, loads of uncertainty. You almost had the end of the world a few months earlier – the Cuban Missile crisis had you and everyone you knew wondering; Would the future be as scary and uncertain as it is now, in 1963?
Somebody said there was a theory going around; that the past, present and future were all mashed up together and that your future self was walking around leaving messages for your present self. And when you sleep at night you don’t actually dream, but you travel around in time.
Maybe you have to stop watching The Twilight Zone – you haven’t been sleeping lately, not since you’ve been watching the news every night. You’re afraid you’re developing a nervous tick – you feel like you’re 17 going on 30. Can you get grey hair at 17? You thought you saw one the other day.
The future can’t be as bad as you imagine. The world is a crazy place – is it ever going to not be crazy? What’s going to happen when you turn 18 – or 21? Are you going to feel the same way? Nervous all the time?
Your mom said it was a phase; you’d grow out of it. Kind of like when you were nine and you cried all the time. You don’t cry anymore. You just get worried and stare out the window a lot.
But come to think of it, a lot of your friends do that. Remember when your History teacher asked the class what was so interesting outside and half the class was staring out the window? Maybe you’re not alone.
Scary times alright – at least there’s Rock n’ Roll – that’s never going to change: Never – not in a million years.
And as long as there’s Danny Dark and WIL, life is bearable – at least for now.
Here’s an hour’s worth of Danny Dark from WIL in St. Louis from January 4, 1963.
