THE WORDS & MEMORIES ORBIT

A life, on the record.

Songs that bring you back. People who stay with you. Wander through Nick’s writing, one memory at a time.

19 storiesNEWEST MEMORIES FIRST

55 to 55Oct 28, 2020DAY 53

I Love You Donna / Heaven Knows

Today is Donna day. Let the gods of disco shine their glittery countenance down upon us! Not much else can be said that hasn’t been said about the Queen of Disco. Perfect pitch? We covered that. Played to…

54 to 54Dec 15, 2019DAY 6

Be With You

Hooray for Erasure, am I right? They provided so many songs to the soundtrack of my twenties. They were the band my Vincent loved best. You might remember that Erasure tied for the number seven spot on my…

54 to 54Nov 23, 2019DAY 28

I Beg Your Pardon

No substance, just kicks. I Beg Your Pardon was a song that created a flood of bodies on the dance floor in 1989 when Vincent and I would go and live our best lives at Grand Central. As we’d get ready at…

54 to 54Nov 15, 2019DAY 35

Sincerely Yours

Representing Freestyle is Sweet Sensation with Sincerely Yours. The late eighties presented us with this new form of dance music, and most of it sounded the same with a different voice here and a quirky…

54 to 54Oct 31, 2019DAY 50

Seasons Change

So, the time period between 1987 and 88 was a pretty nondescript year for me. I was still in a personal holding pattern, still living my life in a closet, still hoping and wishing and praying changes would…

53 to 53Nov 26, 2018DAY 25

Do You Wanna Funk / Smalltown Boy

Today’s double-shot is dedicated to the movies I saw as a very young gay guy just coming out and trying to find common ground in a world that evidently hated me and my existence. I first discovered a movie…

53 to 53Nov 10, 2018DAY 41

If You’re Out There / Someday

How do you describe the voice of John Legend? Pointed, unpretentious, sweet and brimming with the spirit of so many crooners from our past, except here he is, in the now. He sings about love and loss, just…

52 to 52Nov 17, 2017DAY 34

I’ll Cover You

So, in the nineties I rediscovered that I loved Broadway musicals. There was a time when Frank and I would venture into the city and see a show, and most of the time they were either funny or boring, but…

52 to 52Oct 31, 2017DAY 51

Into The Night

Before you read further and/or judge, please just try and remember this song was written in a different time, and when I fell in love with it, I was just short of 16 years old myself. It wasn’t gross and…

51 to 51Dec 21, 2016DAY 0

Merry Christmas Darling

To end a countdown of 51 songs to 51, when the one in question is born 4 days before Christmas, seems incomplete without a bonus song that only gets played this time of year, but is hands-down my favorite…

51 to 51Dec 20, 2016DAY 1

Those You’ve Known

With one day left to my birthday, I decided to save this song from Spring Awakening as my penultimate. Obviously, unless you’ve seen the show you won’t know the song or what events led up to Jonathan…

51 to 51Nov 23, 2016DAY 28

Dancing Queen

How ABBA never made it into my countdown last year is beyond me. My entry regarding disco mega-hit We Are Family by Sister Sledge talked about that K-Tel record album that started it all for me, the one…

51 to 51Nov 22, 2016DAY 29

Eternal Flame

Sometimes I fall in love with a song long after its release and only because of what it reminds me of when I think back on it. Frankly, I never really liked Eternal Flame by the Bangles in 1989 when it was…

50 to 50Dec 16, 2015DAY 5

This Time I Know It’s For Real / On The Radio

She was the Queen of Disco and I had to listen to her albums secretly because, by the time I had really discovered her, disco was dead and I was living in the Poconos where Lynyrd Skynyrd was king. Sounds…

50 to 50Dec 15, 2015DAY 6

Who Knew?

He passed away in the summer of 2006. We kind of knew the end was coming but we didn’t want to accept that. We just wanted more time. In his passing, he gave me so much. He brought Lusty back into my life,…