Missing "The Hungry Years"

Neil Sedaka once sang a song "The Hungry Years." He missed that simpler time when he was poor and didn't have all of the complications in life that comes when you have success.

Back in 1983 I was dead broke and living in the charming small town of 15,000 people, Albany, West Australia. It sits right on the Indian Ocean. It had once been a whaling village. My wife Maria had left me for good and gone back to San Francisco. I had a legal complication. I was not allowed to leave the state of West Australia. I lived in a rented room. I had a humble portable black and white television and an audio cassette music player. I had no car or bike. I was able to eat and barely support myself by working at a very humble job in a restaurant. The food was good. My boss was, believe it or not, a Mr.Smith and a nice man.

I would think back to my happy times in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. I would long to be back there.While I lived in Perth, I discovered an obscure shop that sold Brasilian music. I had a small collection of audio cassettes from the shop. My favorite Brasilian artist was an obscure singer named Maria Creuza. Every evening I would listen to her beautiful voice and have the happiest thoughts of Brasil.

This music collection got lost by a moving company in South Africa in 1995. I thought that part of my life was gone forever.

In my recent Brasil trip, I was able to find some vinyl records of Maria Creuza thanks to Anna Chagas and Bossa Nove Music Shop in Rio de Janeiro.

Yesterday afternoon was sunny and cool in Pacifica. I started to play the vinyl records of Maria Creuza. Her beautiful songs touched my heart just as they had 34 years ago. I thought back to those hungry years.

It's so nice when you get a part of your life back that seemed to be lost forever.