When I hear “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton, I am struck with some vivid high school memories. During my Junior year at LHS, I was part of the Varsity Jazz Choir. There is an annual jazz festival Greeley, Colorado in April, so we went on a road trip to go participate. Every road trip is good for producing inside jokes, stories, camaraderie, and indescribable rage against the people sharing space in the 15-passenger van. (This post will not include the instances of indescribable rage.)

We had these two guys in jazz choir, Jon and John. In an effort to make conversations easier to understand, we started pronouncing John’s name as “Juh-han.” (John was not amused.) Anyway, Juh-han brought along several mix CDs that he had made, so we spent some time listening to those over the van’s speakers. One of the songs was… you guessed it… “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton. That song starts with that distinctive little guitar solo that is so fun to sing along to. At least Antwon (the guy riding shotgun at the time) thought so, because he kept skipping back to the beginning of the track right before the voice came in. We listened to that guitar solo about 30 times in a row. Some of us thought it was funny, especially after the following conversation.

Antwon: Who is this?

Juh-han: Eric Clapton.

Antwon: Oh, Eric Clapman!

Juh-han: No, Eric Clapton.

Antwon (funny voice): E’ic Clapman!!

Juh-han: [not amused]

Throughout the rest of the trip, every once in a while Antwon would say “E’ic Clapman!” then sing a bit of the guitar solo from the beginning of the song.

(By the way, Juh-han sounds like a total grump in this post. He’s not. He’s actually a really funny guy. Well, I assume he still is, because I haven’t seen him since high school.)