It’s another Monday. I wondered a moment ago exactly how many Monday’s the average person has in their lives. I’d be willing to bet there must be a member of the listening audience that knows this little bit of trivia. If you are just such a person I would appreciate it if you’d leave a comment to share the knowledge. You never know when I might go out for Jeopardy and will need that as an answer for Alex.
I was presented this song by Joey yesterday. The moment, I heard it, I was like yeah, that’s cool stuff. Not to mention his name. For some odd reason it instantly triggered a memory for me that I will now relate here for you as you’re transported on this journey. The trouble is, I’m setting myself up to look like an ubër geek. As if I haven’t already in the past.
There was a point in my past where I actually went by the name Joey. It wasn’t my birth given name, but I decided I had to use it to escape harrassment by my fellow classmates, who obviously weren’t much for mates if they were teasing me about my name. See I grew up in New York City. I attended P.S. 184. I don’t have a recollection on the exact year, but I know it was around 1st or possibly 2nd grade. There was a doll on the east coast market called Jody – The Country Girl Doll. Mind you, this is probably along the lines of a barbie type thing. They pandered to little girls via TV commercials and tried to make it as enticing as possible to city-bread girls who needed a rural void filled in their lives.
What made this doll so annoying to me wasn’t the name. It was the theme song from the TV commercial. Somehow this little doll on a commercial had a theme song that went with it and the hook/chorus of it was so dopey, but so catchy, that other kids would instantly start singing the damn thing to me. Which then led to being called names and also to be labeled as a sissy, for something I had no control over. In my infinite wisdom as a grade schooler, I decided I need to change my name. The first choice by a parent would be to use your first name. I didn’t care for my first name and even to this day my mom, my dad, and on occasion my grandma are they only people who remotely ever use it, and even that is rare. I’m just not known by that name. I don’t even answer to it unless it’s one of those three people that use it. Now you know that Jody isn’t my first name, but it may as well be.
How did I go from Jody to Joey in three steps. Well, I suppose it depends on whether you ask me, or my mom. See she likes to tell the story that when I did decide to change my name, I first requested the name Steve. I was a fan of the 6 million dollar man. Yikes. I don’t remember wanting to be called Steve. However, mom argues that I did get called Steve briefly before I moved to Joey which seemed to signify the masculine version of Jody to me. So from about 2nd grade all the way through graduating from University, people knew me as Joey. The moment I graduated from University I was like fuck it, I’m resorting to my birthname. Besides Jody just sounds like a cooler stage name and it’s my real name.
There’s this odd dynamic that I have with people that know me and for how long they’ve known me for, or at least how well they know me. There are those who’ve known me all my life and thus as Jody. There are those who are people I went to school with that know me as Joey. Then there are all the people I’ve met since obtaining my degree that know me as Jody. There are a select few that know me from school that now call me by Jody, but only because they know me well.
Now, I’ve finally publicly revealed a strange tale about a name change that I’ve never really hidden, but then I’ve never really decided to out it. In a way, I was running from my past, my childhood past, when I was a child. It took me many years to face that torture and get over it. I’m much better now, I’ve had many years of therapy, I’ve gotten over it. Actually I’m lying about the therapy. I’ve yet to ever spend time on a couch intimating details of my life to someone who then asks me how I feel while charging me $200/hr to say get over it. I did that with the help of good friends and yapping about it to any one that cared to listen, or in this case read.
As for the creator of Runaway Child, Mr. Joey Fehrenbach, I haven’t asked if his name has caused him any grief like mine has. My guess is, no. One more random thought, I’ve only met one other male Jody face to face. I’ve been told the name is more common for guys than I’m led to believe, but I don’t believe it’s true.
I actually like the production here on this track. I especially like the warpy sythn melody line. The song actually gives me a feeling of taking a journey, it better it’s about running away. I also get a little smattering of Enya and that monk-ish stuff they did. At least I think it’s Enya. Maybe I’m wrong. Anyway, I really like this song, and I look forward to putting the headphones on and sifting through more of Joey’s recordings. Heck, I might even put the feelers out to doing some co-writing with the man, just to see what happens. Until that release comes to see the light of day, I recommend that you get thee to iTunes and purchase this song immediately. Don’t hesitate.