Duke Ellington – Satin Doll
Comments (8) I was sitting at my desk, wondering what to write, when this song came on:
Currently Playing: Duke Ellington – Satin Doll
“Satin Doll” transports me back in time to my days DJ’ing college parties. A typical such party would end at 2:00 am, after which I had to pay the security, bartenders, and other vendors. Then I had to pack up my sound system and stash it in its rented storage space. By the time I was done with everything, it would often be close to four in the morning.
Now, I never played any Duke Ellington at those parties; rather, “Satin Doll” was on the jukebox at King Diner, a 24-hour hamburger stand in San Francisco, where I would sometimes go to unwind after a night of work. I’d sit in that diner and drink a cup of coffee, and maybe eat a burger, and at some point I’d invariably drop a quarter into the jukebox. As soon as the first tinkling piano keys filled the diner, a feeling of calm would wash over me. For three minutes, I felt transported fifty years back into time.
DJ’ing is a lot lonelier than you’d think. I may have been the center of attention at the parties, but I was also the only person present who was sober, working, and dateless. After everyone else rode home on the buses, it was just me and the big city. Sitting in King Diner, watching the cashed out souls shambling down Mission Street, I’d contemplate my lot in life, as around me night gave way to day.
I often used to wonder about love. I had no idea what it meant to be “in love,” or how I would know if I were, and was more than half-convinced I would never find out. Sometimes I would think about whatever crush I currently had, and lament my “don’t date sorority girls” rule, when that crush happened to be on a Gamma Phi Beta. The rest of the time I’d spend asking myself if my chosen profession was what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life, or if I should be preparing myself for something better, or at the very least different. Then, because most of those parties took place on Thursday nights, I’d head back to Berkeley to catch an hour or two of sleep before going to school.
Things have changed since those days. I’m out of school, and working on different sorts of events that seldom require such late nights. I’m happily in love with the girl of my dreams, and while my job may not be quite the world-changing, fulfilling profession I once dreamed I’d have, it pays the bills and affords me enough free time to indulge my more intellectual and philanthropic pursuits. In short, life is good; but “Satin Doll” still puts me in a thoughtful mood.
