One of the songs I bought this week is the Black Crowes’ “She Talks to Angels,” and it’s almost entirely because of Mr. Wood, my sophomore-year psychology teacher.
Mr. Wood was probably the coolest teacher I’d had in my college career up until that point. He was a tall man with feathered black hair and a thick mustache straight out of the 70s, but he really did pull it off. He had an easy-going, laid back style that still got the message into students’ heads but was serious when necessary. One day he brought in a little boom box and told us we were going to listen to music. Naturally our collective reaction was, “All right!”
He then played “She Talks to Angels,” which was surprising to me, and explained it to us afterwards. The amazing thing is that he forever changed my perception on the song, and brought it into our current psychology lesson. What was it? Oh, I don’t know. Something. But the point is that every time I hear it, I visualize Mr. Wood going through the lyrics with nearly-too-many hand motions and excitement in his voice.
Sometime after that class I spoke with him regarding it and told him how much I liked it. He even said that if I had music suggestions, I should make them. I did, but I don’t think he ever played any R.E.M. for anyone.
Posted in Television, Movies, and Music