Shop Around

My grandson, Brady, turned 13 today.  (June 2, 2018)   We celebrated last week-end.  While we were together we talked about BIG birthdays.  I told him that I thought 10, 13, 16, 18, 21 were BIG ones.

• 10 because you have to write two digits when you write your age   You won’t add another digit for 90 years.
• 13 because you are a teenager
• 16 because you can get your driver’s license  (He’s started saving for a car.)
• 18 because you are legally an adult and can vote
• 21 because you can legally consume alcoholic beverages

There are a lot of other numbers that have significance for people, but I think that these are pretty universal in the United States.

I told him that I remembered turning thirteen because my extended family always got together for Memorial Day.   The Memorial Day of my thirteenth birthday I was asked if I “felt older”.   I was standing in my Aunt Ruth’s kitchen when the question was asked.

I remember taking a brief pause to access my feelings.  “Did I feel any different?”   I didn’t.   I don’t remember anything else about that birthday and I expect that I wouldn’t remember any part of the day if the question hadn’t been asked.  It’s just stuck there in my memory.  The only other person’s thirteenth birthday that I remember is my childhood friend, Bill Graham.  You’ve heard of him in other “childhood memory” stories.

It’s funny how our memory works. Little bits get stuck for no apparent reason.   I remember Brady’s thirteen birthday (because it’s today), mine (because of the “feeling” question), and Bill’s because of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles released their hit single, “Shop Around”, in October of 1960.  A few weeks later, November 13, we celebrated Bill’s thirteen birthday.  A small group of friends gathered at his house and gave him our carefully selected gifts.  My single memory from that day is the 45 rpm record that I purchased for him – “Shop Around”.  My mom wrapped the record in birthday celebration wrapping paper and tied it with a ribbon and bow.   I would have been happy to just give it to him in a bag, but mom insisted on wrapping it.

I had a secret subliminal message that I was trying to convey to Bill through the song.   We had both recently met a new girl, Karen, and we both “liked” her.  He was winning the competition for her attention.  I hoped that he would listen to  the message in the song and continue to “Shop Around”.  (Brady, if you read this blog – listen to the message from the song.)

As Bill fumbled with the ribbon, the record snapped in two like a dry twig.  The record never made it out of the wrapping paper.  It was gone.   Worthless.  Bill made some lame joke about the situation but deep inside I was mad.   Mad at my mom for wrapping it so tightly and Bill for pretending like it was no big deal.

“Shop Around” became the Motown Record Corporation’s first million selling record, is ranked 500 on Rolling Stones list of the 500 great songs of all time, and was honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the top 500 songs that help shape Rock and Roll.   And Bill broke his copy before it hit the turntable.

On the bright side, if Bill hadn’t broken the record, I probably wouldn’t have remembered his thirteenth birthday and you wouldn’t have the chance to listen to Motown’s first million selling record right now.