Whatcha Gonna Do
(Macleod/Henderson) Performed by Chilliwack
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
There's no time for changing plans
I must leave, it's in your hands
I know you'll wait for how long
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
When I'm away you're gonna have a good time
What can I say, will you remember you're mine?
What will you do when they wanna touch ya?
What will you do when they wanna get you?
I know what they'll do
If you ever let 'em, are you gonna let 'em?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
When the boys all come to call
Will you take them in at all
Or will you send them far away?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Why don't you run and do what you wanna do?
Ain't nothin' wrong 'cause I'll be doing it too
If you give in, I don't wanna hear it
And if he wins I don't wanna see it
Whatever you do maybe you can hide it
Try to keep it quiet
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
And when it's night and I'm not there
When the cold is in the air
Will you make the best of it?
Someone there to keep you warm
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Where're you gonna be when I'm gone?
Who will be with you?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Where're you gonna be when I'm gone?
Who will be with you?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
Whatcha gonna do when I'm gone?
I
wrote a couple of weeks ago about how, when some new friends in
Lethbridge asked me to meet them at the football game, my mother
thought that sounded dodgy and she wouldn't let me go. When I asked again the next week, she said I could go, but only if I took my little brother, Kyler, with me. He wasn't even in high school yet -- he certainly wasn't fit to be my protector out in public -- but as a spoiler of fun, Kye was without equal. In the end, I was so desperate to make new friends that I was willing to babysit Kyler through a football game in order to get out of the house. Here's all I remember: it was cold in the stands, and even though I didn't know anything about football or its rules, the cheerleaders got the crowds going and it was a lot of fun to feel like a part of a community by cheering for our school. Kyler refused to sit with me, opting for running around under the stands with some kids from his own school, and it was tough to find him in the dispersing crowd before meeting Mum in the parking lot after the game. After that week -- once I had some actual friends with firmer plans -- I was allowed to go on my own.
Nearing the end of grade ten, my friends and I were excited to learn that Chilliwack would be coming to give a concert at the Sportsplex -- the same complex where the football games were played -- and by that time, I expected not to get any opposition from my parents if I wanted to go with my friends. Dead wrong. Maybe remembering the time that she let Ken go into Toronto for an AC/DC concert -- when he and his stoner friends got high and blamed it on the second-hand dope smoke in the air -- Mum said that I would only be allowed to go if she and Kyler came with us. Lethbridge is not Toronto, and Chilliwack is not AC/DC, but at fifteen, I had no power to complain. We got seats up in the stands and Mum and Kyler sat in the row right behind me, Kasia, Cindy, and Nancy, and even though my friends thought it was no big deal that they were there, I cringed as they both sang along to the songs they knew from the radio.
The next year, Corey Hart came to the Sportsplex, and at sixteen, I was finally allowed to go to a concert alone with my friends (perhaps because when she came to Chilliwack, my mother didn't see any evidence of drug use?) and that was a great time; what teenaged girl in 1984 wasn't in love with Corey Hart? As my friends and I swooned over Mr. Sunglasses-at-Night, it would have been a buzzkill to have either my mother or my baby brother along for the ride.
Those are the only two concerts I ever remember going to in Lethbridge. Obviously these weren't huge acts, but my friends and I should have been interested in seeing just about anyone at their level, and I don't remember now if no one else interesting came or if we just didn't bother going. When we were in grade twelve, Cindy and I took the Greyhound up to Calgary to see Elton John. Now that was a real concert -- he ended the show by smashing his baby grand in front of the sold out Saddledome -- and just being allowed to go actually blew my mind: taking the bus, negotiating a big city, sleeping at Cindy's aunt and uncle's house afterwards; that's a long way to come from not being allowed to attend a high school football game without a guardian.
It's funny that I always remember my Dad as the controlling one, but it was often Mum who laid down the law. When she was in grade twelve, my mother went to a Gordon Lightfoot concert, and because she knew someone who knew someone, Mum was one of a gang of kids who went back to Lightfoot's hotel room afterwards and listened to him play and sing throughout the night. This apparently caused a bit of a scandal in 1960s Charlottetown -- boys and girls in a hotel room together after dark! -- but when Mum explained to her mother how innocent it all was, my grandmother believed her and defended her to anyone who might have raised an eyebrow over the incident. Although I grew up in a time and place where no one was monitoring and evaluating my "reputation", and despite the fact that my own mother had expected her parents to trust her judgement, my every move felt guarded and constrained when I was in high school; restraints my brothers didn't suffer. For someone who identified with the feminist movement, Mum didn't seem to mind treating us kids with double standards; and whether or not she was just keeping the peace by preempting what she thought my father would say whenever I went to ask her for permission to do something, I always wished Mum had been more trusting; had found a way to be on my side more often; hadn't resorted to using my little brother as my guardian.
As a side note: this week's song choice doesn't have any deeper meaning, it's simply my favourite Chilliwack song.
