One evening at the end of summer, my three best friends and I were parked in our usual spot outside the ice cream parlor, listening to the final notes of “Build Me Up Buttercup” fade into an uncomfortable silence.
Each of us refused to address the oversized elephant in the room — college was almost upon us. In a few brief days, we would go our separate ways, travelling to opposite corners of the globe never to see each other again — or so we feared.
We would have to acknowledge our departures at some point but wished we could travel back in time to when we carelessly sang to the music. The fact that the last song on our playlist was “Build Me Up Buttercup” made matters infinitely worse, since this was the song we had elected as our anthem — the track that colored everything we did together. It had the perfect combination of music, lyrics and old-timey charm to appeal to rowdy, second-semester seniors.
“Build Me Up Buttercup” has been the soundtrack to my fondest memories. It’s a song that even the most tone deaf person of all time — like me — can sing along to on a road trip. I challenge you to find one person on this planet who dislikes “Build Me Up Buttercup.” It’s one of those few special things, like Raymond, that everybody loves.
Deep down, I know the euphoria of this song — much like that of senior year of high school — comes to an end. As they say, “Nothing lasts forever.”
Perhaps my longing for the past boils down to “creative era” psychology, the idea that all people dream of returning to a better past. People talk about going back to the America of the 1950s and 1920s and so on, but I ask for nothing so grand — just to go back to the start of a song.
Call me delusional, say I’m living in the past, but I prefer to think high school never ended — or, more accurately, that my friendships will always be as strong as they were then. I’m sure I’ll wake up from this dream at some point. Until then, I’ll continue to find solace in listening to this old song.
John’s column runs biweekly Fridays. He can be reached at j.benenati@cavalierdaily.com.
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