I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues

Confessions of a teenage Navy girlfriend

Yes, people really did write letters on paper at one time. Photo by Kathy Copeland Padden

Don’t wish it away
Don’t look at it like it’s forever
Between you and me I can honestly say
That things can only get better

And while I'm away
Dust out the demons inside
And it won't be long before you and me run
To the place in our hearts where we hide

Elton, you bastard, you broke my heart with this one. This is exactly what it feels like at 18 when your boyfriend is off the coast of Lebanon for six months. The first time I saw the video for I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues in late 1983, I dissolved into a pile of teenage angst. From the girl on tippy-toes kissing her boot camp-bound boyfriend goodbye at the beginning of the video to the jumping-hug-spin reunion at the end, I was living that shit for real, and it suuuuuuucked.

Well played, Elton. Well played.

My sailor had expressed these same sentiments regarding our less-than-ideal predicament right before he deployed. A bit less eloquently, granted, but the message was the same. And it gave me THE HAPPYS and then THE SADS.