So when I was in my teens, this song (which is titled 'Dancing With Tears In My Eyes', and is by a band named Ultravox) had a poignant relevance. It just happened to come up on shuffle and I am stunned by how little relevance it has to the world I live in now.
Wow. Do I have to say 'thank you, Ronald Reagan, for ending the Cold War', or can I just lay the blame for the irrelevance at the feet of Mikhail Gorbachev? Because the scenario in the lyrics stopped being probable in the late 80s. Nearly 20 years ago. I remember living with the thought that at any point, my life could end at 17 minutes' warning as the ICBMs rained down on the west coast of this continent. It actually is telling about the world being better now than it was in the past that this song was, at the time, a top-40 hit, and is now merely cringingly irrelevant.