A Time I Was Lost

Lost Is Not Always Physical

A Time I Was Lost

July 25, 2023

Rewritten March 3, 2026

Once upon a time, I was a part of a writing group that assigned topics to generate thoughts every week.

On this occasion, our topic was “A Time I Was Lost.”

My take on the topic is different than you would expect. Most participants wrote on being physically /geographically lost or separated from family as a child.

However, I used to get lost in the music that my parents provided for us to “enjoy.” Ha Ha! It took a while to truly enjoy their music. But when I arrived, I was all in.

I could get lost in the music of Andre Kostelanetz and his orchestra, the soulful voice of Sarah Vaughn, Ravel’s Bolero (called “10” by young folks who saw the movie starring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek. I was also lost in the smooth, velvet voice of Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, inspired by the central character in One Thousand and One Nights, and a host of so many other eclectic collections of tunes.

We loved the smooth voice of Frank Sinatra, the recently deceased Tony Bennett, and the impersonations and melodic tones of Sammy Davis, Jr. We even laughed at the (now we know he was never drunk) Dean Martin. It was another world with the many musical genres.

It was so easy to get lost in the smooth voice of Nat King Cole, who always pronounced words correctly, and Johnny Mathy. Johnny could hold a not for what appeared to be 10 minutes and not appear to take a breath.

The final clash of the cymbals at the end of the 1812 Overture took me away from our small home and inserted me into the orchestra pit of the Cleveland Symphony orchestra. I was truly lost in my reverie.

In those days, we used the long-playing vinyl records, as well as 45s and 78s.Sometimes, for various reasons, the needle, on the record would be jostled, and there would be a repeat of the chord or tune. My siblings and I always blamed each other for the scratch.

When I matriculated through Cass Technical High School in Detroit, a sister school, Commerce, was right across the street. And who would be on the corner between the two schools doing BeeBop and DooWop? You guessed it: Diane Ross and some friends, later the Supremes.

She has clearly done a MAJOR makeover.

I just need to get it out there that our family was one of many ghetto families who were parent-taught to speak the King’s English, listen to popular, classical, and jazz music. Yet it disturbs me that when I watch movies or TV, I never see those families (exception being Bill Cosby Show), nor do I hear a black person, male or female, speak like me or any of those aforementioned families.

Almost all black actors speak with poor grammar, missing appropriate verbs and adverbs, and rarely using language that is absent of the profanity that we were forbidden to speak.

Why not?

If you know, please tell me.