Where Do You Get Your Inspiration? Part 3 (Racing the Moon)
Back in high school, I was quite the bad ass, as they say. The rebel. Pointy shoes, skinny pants, the only motorcycle in high school…if a Honda 90 can be considered a motorcycle. But you know I looked the part and was actually suspended from high school. Well, it was for running in the hall..but I was carrying scissors, so…
It was a different time; different values; different perceptions. And Susan? She was a cheer leader, in the key club and the honor society…you get the picture. She was just what a person was expected to be in high school. Needless to say our opposites attracted and we were crazy for each other. Cheerleader loves the rebel. And I was totally smitten with her. The big smit I called it. I mean, I wanted to have her baby.
It was my first true love and you never get over a thing like that. We were totally crazed for each other. We lived across the lake from each other, but could see our bedrooms from our windows, so we would do that light flickering thing to connect with each other before we went to sleep.
Well, her father, the Admiral, did not share her enthusiasm for me. Actually, I think he hated me. I mean I once overheard him saying he wanted to smack my mom just for having me. And, because I guess he’d never read Romeo and Juliet or seen the Fantastiks, he forbade Susan to see me. Well, you know that that just turned our loins incandescent. Never do that. Historically that doesn’t work. Think of the Garden of Eden and the forbidden apple. If it didn’t work for God, why would it work for you?
And as soon as I was off limits, Susan and I started getting really creative; coming up with all kinds of ways that we could be together and we were on FIRE. The boldest move would be when I would sneak over to her house in the middle of the night and toss pebbles against her window. She’d sneak down and we’d steal the Admiral’s Ford Galaxie 500 convertible and drive it to the beach where we watched the submarine races til the wee hours. What a dream of a time.
Well the Admiral and his bride finally realized that the forbidden fruit gambit just wasn’t working, so he cut a deal with Susan. She could see me one night of the weekend only if she saw someone of the Admiral’s choosing the other night of the weekend. And that’s what he did.
Every single weekend, he would fly someone down from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland to be his guest for the weekend and to take out his daughter on the night that we didn’t go out. He just kept doing that; rubbing her up against midshipmen until finally one of them caught fire and they got married and made a bunch of little midshipmen. I never saw her again.
But on her fiftieth birthday, thanks to the internet, I found her and called her. Her son answered the phone and I casually asked if Susan could come to the phone. “Mom, someone on the phone for you”. And then she was there, I heard her breathe as she said, “this is Susan”.
“Susan,” I said softly, “Happy Birthday”
I heard another intake of breath and then she said, “I knew you’d call”. POW. ZING. An arrow straight to my heart. What an incredible rush. You know, you never forget your first love and here’s the song that came from that phone call. I co- wrote this with the wonderful Michael Smith ( www.artistsofnote.com/michael/index.html )
Racing the Moon
Racing the moon, nothing but time
Racing the moon, with our hearts on the line
Racing the moon, holding our breath
Racing the moon and scared to death
She was sixteen that summer night
We stole the keys, we took a ride.
We were driving in her daddy’s car
Top down and the radio roaring
Faster, she said, Faster
And it was over too soon…
Racing the moon
There’s things I’ll never understand
Between a woman and a man
What we’re chasing when we run so hard?
Top down and the radio roaring…
Faster we go faster and still
It’s over too soon
Racing the moon
All the way, all the way, any way we can
All the way, all the way, any way we can
And now it’s down to me and you
Is this what we are gonna do?
Go cruising in a stole can
Top down and the radio roaring
Faster, do we go faster and faster?
Until it’s over too soon?
Racing the moon
Racing the moon, nothing but time
Racing the moon, with our hearts on the line
Racing the moon, holding our breath
Racing the moon and scared to death
We were driving in her daddy’s car
Top down and the radio roaring
Faster, she said, Faster
And it was over too soon…
words and music by James Lee Stanley and Michael Smith
@1984 James Lee Stanley Music, BMI
james lee stanley
in Songwriting
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Reader Comments (2)
THAT is the song that made me an instant fan...i remember going up to you the next day wanting to know what cd it was on you were in the middle of counting your stock and I said something to the effect of: "You sang a song last night about someone named susan" I remember making sure that i remembered the name susan was connected to it...and then i asked what cd it was on...I have listened to racing the moon over and over in the years since I even taught myself to play it...the passion of your experience really comes thru...not one soggy note or word...
Great song and I love knowing the background stories. Sounds alot like the story of my first love. Only difference is that I married mine. We've been together for 35 years now and no regrets. Now ever time I hear this song it will get me hot. Thanks James.
Diane