Soundtrack of my youth

On Friday, March 21 I bid adieu to a colleague who'd been with the same company for eighteen years. We weren't employed by the same operation, but we worked rather closely as our individual businesses are sisters by corporate ownership. It will be an enormous change and I'll miss our conversations. We were similar in age and shared our tales of being teens in the 80s. His love for the music and movies of said decade was nearly as deep as mine.

On his daily pilgrimages to our store, time would pass quickly and my mood would lighten as we laughed and discussed our lives before marriage and children. From time to time we'd share parental humor. Those looking on assumed he had a crush on me. I was very dismissive at the notion. We simply had a lot in common.

Weeks ago I had told him about the value of a Rhino Records Valley Girl CD. Later on that same day, that CD materialized in his hands; a highly coveted disc. He owned it. I pawed it as if it were the Holy Grail of 80s music.

On Friday, his last day, he came bearing gifts. Over the course of a year, he'd bring us donuts or Fannie May candies as a thank you for various tasks we stamped priority at his request. He gave us a final bag of Hostess chocolate covered mini-donuts. Our manager, he bestowed rich brew coffee beans (he's a caf-fiend). And, in honor of our shared love of the 80s, he made me a copy of that very rare--out of print Valley Girl soundtrack. It's not the original as that is still available at a reasonable price. This particular CD has additional music from the movie and is currently for sale only on Ebay at a king's ransom.

Curious about the tracks on this gem of a collection? Well, wait no longer. Here they are:

• Girls Like Me ~ Bonnie Hayes with The Wild Combo


• Eaten By The Monster Of Love ~ Sparks


• Mickey ~ Toni Basil


• Zero Hour (Original version) ~ The Plimsouls


• He Was Really Sayin' Somethin' ~ Bananarama


• In The Name of Love ~ Thompson Twins


• The Earthquake Son ~ Little Girls


• Do You Really Want To Hurt Me ~ Culture Club


• Cool Places ~ Sparks & Jane Wiedlin


• Town Called Malice ~ The Jam


• I Eat Cannibals ~ Total Coelo


• Time To Win ~ Gary Myrick & The Figures


• Voo Doo ~ Rachel Sweet


• Marina Men ~ Valley Girls


• Pocket Pool ~ Killer Pussy


• Shelly's Boyfriend ~ Bonnie Hayes with The Wild Combo