Fear the Crab

In a recent conversation with The Galbraith, we waxed poetic about the philosophies and inter-relations of Weight Watchers, miniatures gaming, window shopping, and Star Wars.  In a wave of nostalgia, I was reminded of my childhood fascination with a particular vinyl album, hidden amongst the remnants of my parents’ music library of John Denver and other artists of the time, that I would listen to repeatedly for hours at a time. This record album was full of Star Wars music.

The record album contained John Williams’ signature Star Wars pieces, such as the intro and ubiquitous cantina song.  It filled me with great excitement each time I dropped that needle into the first groove and cranked up the hi-fi.  With each song, I could relive the space opera experience scene by scene in my mind’s imagination.

I don’t remember what year it was produced, but it was after the explosive introduction of the Star Wars phenomenon, so definitely after 1977.  I had absorbed the initial movie with fervor, I built X-Wings out of Tinkertoys (I had the wooden version), I collected action figures (and promptly tore them out of the packaging, much to my 20/20 hindsight’s chagrin).  I wanted anything and everything related to Star Wars and I wanted it every day.

Apparently, I wasn’t very discerning about what I got.  This is the album of which I speak:

Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk, by Meco.

Here’s a sample.  There are probably other samples out there, but that link is among the first few a casual web search returned.

I was naive, and had no idea was a “tribute album” was, much less the practice of DJs remixing and repackaging material for funky beats. I conveniently ignored the wacky cover and focused on the name, “Star Wars.” I heard the familiar tunes and thought nothing out-of-place with the disco rhythms. I dare say that I was frickin’ PROUD to own that album!

So much so, that I brought it in to show-and-tell one day and forced the whole class to listen to it.  I remember standing up there in front of the room holding the album cover, ramming that visual down everybody’s throat, as the gyratory music-ations blared over the teacher’s record player (yes, I think record players were standard teaching material back then).

What I don’t remember is how everyone reacted to it.  I think I might be suppressing that memory, but I have a pretty good idea what the teacher must have been thinking.

And you know what?  I think I may still have that record.  Somewhere.