A song from Paul Simon’s
“Graceland” album that always reminds me of the video that was released,
starring Chevy Chase, animatedly mouthing the lyrics as Paul Simon morosely
lurked in the background, playing various instruments such as the bass guitar
and conga drums.
It also reminds me of a concert
Lynn and I attended in 1992, during Simon’s “Born at the Right Time” tour, at
the Rosemont Horizon (now the Allstate Arena). The stage was on our left so the
majority of the sound pounded my left eardrum.
And it was loud (which many
people later marveled at when I told them, they thought of Paul Simon as the
“Sounds of Silence”, “Scarborough Fair” guy, even though the new albums were
very percussion driven)
The next day I noticed my ears were
still ringing, especially my left.
When it didn’t abate after several
days, I made an appointment with my primary doctor and he sent me to an ear,
nose, and throat specialist, who performed a hearing test. It was then that I
found out I had lost upper register hearing, due to running punch press for 6
months in my early working career at Accutronics, in those wonderful pre-OSHA
days when we didn’t wear any hearing protection (and none was offered).
The ringing has never stopped, I just
don’t notice it until I’m in a quiet area, or are sick, when it becomes hard not
to think about the constant tone.
I’ve gotten used to it, I guess.
My doctor also found I had an
enlarged thyroid on the right side of my throat and I ended up having half of
it removed, requiring me to take synthroid forever to make up for the missing
half.
