November 21, 2016  -  User Showcase Song - Lundy's Lane

Hello forum members. This is a song that is mostly true. I grew up in a small suburb which is now part of the Silicon Valley. The area was pretty quiet then. Fortunately, the topography was such that the neighborhood could not be built in the normal fashion. There were gullies, big hills, and small canyons through which streets were interwoven. It was a wonderful place to grow up. Lundy's Lane is actually a small cul-de-sac off of my street (Bunker Hill Drive). The steep hill at the end of the cul-de-sac prevented cost effective building of homes there. Things changed when homes in the area became worth 1.5M dollars. Now those spaces, and the few with similar challenges on Bunker Hill Drive have been filled in. I drove through the old neighborhood, in truth, not the day my dad passed away, but instead on a trip to visit him at the VA hospice in Palo Alto. I thought Lundy's Lane just sounded like a good title but the song is more about the area as a whole. The buckeye trees were actually in an open field off Bunker Hill Drive which has also been filled in (we walked our dog there), and the Polywog pond was near the bottom of the street. Now, the whole area is swarmed with people, incredibly expensive, and has little of its original charm. The last verse refers to my best boyhood friend. I believe his mom still lives there but in truth I have never knocked on the door. She was a very sweet lady, a Japanese American who actually was in an internment camp for a period. It was at her house that I first had sushi, before many Americans knew what that was. I'm afraid if I saw her, my emotion would get the best of me. Still trying to work up the nerve. My mom lives in Foster City, about 6-8 miles east of that neighborhood. When I visit her, I feel like a stranger in my own land. It is heart breaking. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the song. Comments very much appreciated. Take care all.

Posted on November 21, 2016 09:40 AM