Pull up a chair, kids, it’s story time. Tonight’s story is all about “Bouncing Around The Room” by Phish.
No, seriously. Come back. I know what you’re thinking. Stop that.
When I was a little kid, I had a really awesome stereo in my room. I got it for my communion in the third grade. It had a dual tape deck so I could tape stuff off the radio, a CD player, and of course an AM/FM radio. I would listen to the local pop radio station during the day and at night we would switch over to the “SMOOTH JAZZ” station.
I had a lot of trouble sleeping when I was a kid, so to try and assuage my fear of the night-time I would leave the radio on until I fell asleep. I don’t even remember WHAT was played…except for this one song. They would play it frequently and I remember it being bouncy and happy, but yet soft and soothing. I could only ever remember one line that sounded to me to be something like
And I awoke to see her bouncing around the room
The echo of the air has spoke
Which, of course, made no sense to little eight year old Elyse. In my quest for drowsiness it’s no wonder I misheard the lyrics. Over the years sleep came easier and the songs on the radio changed, and the little song about bouncing around the room ended up tucked into a cranny of my brain.
Fast forward. It’s 2012 and on a Sunday night I’m unable to sleep once again. There’s something about Sundays that drive me to insomnia - the fear of Monday morning rolling around, the end of the weekend, back to classes, back to work, back to normalcy. The little line about bouncing around the room popped into my head and urged me to look it up.
Twenty-two years after its release I’ve found the song.
For when my hand was holding hers
She whispered words and I awoke
And faintly bouncing around the room
The echo of whomever spoke
I awoke and faintly bouncing round the room
the echo of whomever spoke.