And Boo, you are a fantastic writer so please keep doing it

First of all, congratulations for having some awesome taste in music. Nearly all of the albums you listed are classics, even the one that I heard so many times that I now cant stand hearing it (Thriller). The reason Im here, though, is a search for “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters. I just saw Almost Famous for like the 397th time tonight, and I just had to find someone somewhere who had also been touched by this song, so that I could pour out my heart about the incredible meaning and resonance it has always had for me.

I was 14 years old when this album came out, and had just started dating a girl named Amy. The song “Amy” naturally became my theme song for the next year or so. I bought her this album and we would sit on her bed making out and listening to it (as well as Madman Across the Water, Doctor Hook & the Medicine Show (first album), The Wild the Innocent & the EStreet Shuffle, Aerosmiths “Rocks” and so many others) for hours on end. I always loved “Mona Lisas&..” from the beginning but it didnt acquire as much personal meaning for me until years later, when I finally got my big break for an investment bank, and used to travel to the head office in NY three or four times a year. New York is such a cold and heartless city in so many ways, and yet it has an energy that you can draw upon in both good ways and bad, but which is hard to just ignore.

The financial industry, however, is New York without the “trash can dreams”. Its cold and brutal and totally phoney. The Mona Lisas with their fake smiles and the Mad Hatters in their three piece suits and gold watches, buzzing around constantly and trying to pretend that their lives were anything but completely empty. There were so many nights when the meetings would continue until 1 AM, and everyone would insist on going out for drinks afterward, then it was a trip to a pissa parlor at 4AM and a vain attempt to catch a few hours sleep before work started again. A few days like that and it truly was impossible to tell whether it was day or night. And in New York, where the skyscrapers block out everything and the neon glare is flashing in your eyes at every hour of the day, the song became more than just a lyric, but a reality. In time I felt like my own soul was being sucked dry by all the phoney people smiling their Mona Lisa smiles.
For unless they see the sky
But they cant and that is why
They know not if its dark outside or light.

I read an interview with Bernie Taupin once where he said that the second verse is referencing Catcher in the Rye. I cant quite figure out the “trash can dreams” part, but if you know the book youll remember how Holden Cauldfield compared himself to the guy who would stand on the edge of the cliff and try to catch the children coming through the rye, before they fell and lost their innocence. But in New York, its pointless to try to save anyone. “You stand at the edge, but people run you through”. I think thats part of the reason that song was used in the scene where Penny Lane finally has her heart broken, and realises that her fantasies just cant survive. She stood on the edge, but the band members ran her through, and even twisted the knife.

Anyway, I eventually had to leave the business before I lost my soul. It was very lucrative, and it was fun for a while, to feel the rush of adrenaline and energy as you spent night after sleepless night working yourself to insanity. But I finally got to a point where I felt like I had to “Go my way alone” before I became just another phoney Mad Hatter, grubbing for ever more status symbols and empty baubles.
Ill go my way alone
Ill grow my own
My own seeds shall be sown . . .

Anyway, sorry for cluttering up your blog. I just had to get these feelings out, and express them to someone even if its a total stranger. Thanks for providing the space.

I thank the Lord theres people out there like you
I thank the Lord theres people out there like you