“…here on Boston’s Only Classic Rock Station, WZLX…” Every single time I hear “Foreplay/Longtime,” I am instantly back to the 34 floor of the Prudential Tower in the mid-90’s.
When I was on the air, doing overnights on the weekends, this song would always come up in rotation – right around the time I needed a caffeine kick to help me finish the show. I can still feel the slight fatigue of night from playing songs and taking phone calls from other night owls. The phones usually died down around 4:15 to 4:45am. My spots were pulled, I had already pulled the next show’s first hour of songs and commercials and I had already prepped the final hour of the show… days before (I was kind of eager that way).
By that time in the morning, in those days, the focus points were dropping the CDs, loading the spots and making sure you still annunciated with the same level of enthusiasm as you did at 12:10am. Of course, most of the 4a-5am set was usually mellow for the third shifters.
Just hearing the opening organ gave me a tingly feeling and when the drums and bass kicked in, I started to perk up a bit. I, and I am sure countless other rock DJ’s in the last 33 years have, played air drums to this song. When the opening salvo quieted a bit, preparing the listener for the intense vocals of Brad Delp, I’d head down the hall, make coffee and walk around the office for a lap.
In the summer, the sun would just start to come up over the Hub of the Universe, and I would reflect on the stillness of the office as the early light shown through the windows.
As the song wound down, I’d come back into the studio, look at my notes and the liner card one more time and as the song started to fade down, I’d don my headphones, crack the mike and repeat that same positioning statement, I still loved to utter.
This cover is by an 18 year old in Canada who is a whiz with the multi-track. Thanks to Brian over at Coverville for posting and dipping my mind into the musical memory lane that was my early radio career.
On a side note, I am sorry for my Boston friends on the loss of WBCN… at least you still have BOCR (oh and ‘ROR too).
