Bring Back Sax Solos

Whenever I see that Emirates Airline commercial using Black’s, “Wonderful Life” I get nostalgic for the ‘80s I experienced as opposed to whatever it is that youngsters get from ‘80s music now.

I was a youngster in the ‘80s so romantic songs sung by handsomely fey foreigners worked a certain magic on me. As a teen, I could imagine a cosmopolitan adulthood, maybe filled with red roses, white wine and billowing sheer drapes that barely masked a sweeping view of city lights.

While at a pseudo-deco (as opposed to the real deco bars we visited—they’re big on the ‘20s-‘30s style) cocktail bar in Madrid filled with uniformly tall Scandinavians and Germans, Double’s "Captain of Her Heart" started playing. Such a smooth, albeit corny, song (I prefer this version but the American one above has a better video, plus it contains an attractive grey-haired woman) yet whiling away the night in a European capital, sipping whiskey (it should’ve been a martini for full effect) and watching cigarette smoke curl into the air felt like the brand of sophistication I’d hoped for at 16.

Maybe all worlds should collide and I could go to a swanky lounge in Dubai and drink Champagne and eat Wagyu beef with black truffles while listing to tender ‘80s ballads. And then all my problems would be solved.

Just as I was copying and pasting this, that Emirates commercial came on tv, so you know this would really be a dream come true.