Joseph Nicks

A Place In The Sun*

Like a long lonely stream
I keep runnin’ towards a dream
Movin’ on, movin’ on...

Ahh, the ninth grade chorus of John Marshall
Junior High, Westland Michigan, spring of 1971. 
Handsome bunch of kids they were, all decked out
in their crisp white shirts or blouses, red ties, and
black skirts or trousers.  And the way their voices
rose to give wing to Little Stevie’s noble, yearning
words was enough to form a large lump in your
throat – that’s for sure:

Like a branch on a tree
I keep reachin’ to be free
Movin’ on, movin’ on...

There was brash but lovable Jim Faraday right
up front, shining away.   (Same kid that pulled a
jock strap over my head in the locker room last
week.)  And Billie Sue Kilgore – the girl lots of
guys were thinking about for a couple frenzied
minutes right before they fell asleep each night
(and who seemed to delight in mocking the way I
buttoned my shirt all the way up to the collar and
how my pant legs were always a couple of inches
higher than they should’ve been), gently swaying
with the rhythm of the song.  Here comes the chorus:

Cause there’s a place in the sun
Where there’s hope for everyone
Where my poor restless heart’s gotta run...

Hope for everyone – that’s what the principal (Mr.
Graves) and Ms. Bettenchamp (the music director)
want to hear!  Hope for the athletic varsity stars, the
precocious business majors, the quick-witted debate
team, the slide-ruled pocket-protectored engineering
students.  Hope for the guys who knew how to kick
some ass and the girls who scrunched up their faces
and wordlessly exclaimed, “eeeeuuuuhhhh!” when
they were paired up with dorky guys like me during
those pain-in-the-ass mandatory square dances we
had to endure each autumn.  Look out, now:

There’s a place in the sun
and before my life is done
Gotta find me a place in the sun...

Yeah, but looking around the auditorium that warm
and fuzzy afternoon at all the other kids surrounding
me and enthusiastically clapping along, I knew only
too well that for me (and a couple handfuls of others
who just didn’t get it) there simply wasn’t gonna be
such a place:

You know when times are bad
And you’re feeling sad
I want you to always remember...

I sang along under my breath:

That there’s a place in the sun – 
but not for everyone,
better go hide your face from the sun...



*Thanks anyway, Stevie.
   It’s not your fault.
   I still like this song – a lot!