The first two Todd Rundgren albums were released on Ampex, the tape manufacturer’s foray into recorded music.  The debut, with "We Gotta Get You A Woman", was released in multiple iterations, not intentionally.  Your cover might not square with what was on the disc.  What appeared on the second album coincided with the track listing, it’s just that it had no hits and was unavailable.  But I found one in a cut-out bin.

This was before Todd remade the Nazz hit "Hello It’s Me".  Before he became a wizard, a true star.  Eventually re-released via Warner Brothers, "The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren" remains an underground classic, my favorite Runt album, containing my favorite Todd composition, "A Long Time, A Long Way To Go".  And right after that track, on the second side of the vinyl LP, is "Boat On The Charles".

Boat on the Charles
Train on a spur down by the riverside
The door’s open wide
Planes in a line just seven miles away
They leave every day

There’s a bittersweet quality, like Todd has been living on Commonwealth Avenue for too long, the grey days are getting to him, he’s got to leave.

But we just arrived.

I take Boston for granted, my mother grew up on the North Shore.  We made innumerable trips to see her extended family.  And that’s what we’re doing here now, going to a wedding.  But, I didn’t expect to be moved so.

But when I steered the rental car from under the tunnel and saw that giant Citgo sign towering over Kenmore Square, denoting my sister’s freshman residence at BU, I felt strangely at home.

The boats…  They were out sailing on the Charles.  Going for one last listing adventure on this Indian Summer day. Soon, Boston’s weather will turn, will befit its famous reputation, grey and dreary.

But bad weather makes interesting people.  Staying inside, playing board games, reading, going to the movies, Boston is a hotbed of intellectualism, everything Sarah Palin rants against.  Even though Joe Sixpack takes the T to Fenway, to root for the Red Sox too, where unlike L.A., no one leaves, at least not until they’re finished singing "Sweet Caroline".

Missing the turn-off to the hotel, we drove by 700, where Jill lived as a sophomore, by the School of Communications, where Howard Stern matriculated, almost all the way to Soldier Field.  My heart skipped a beat.  I don’t want to go back to college.  But, I realized if you’ve got to go, this is the place.

So many of the record stores are gone.  The digital revolution keeps people connected in ways we could never contemplate.  But somehow Boston is still the same.  Junior to New York, but not caring.  A place just a tad less serious, a bit more carefree, where having a unique identity is a badge of honor.

The Common was dotted with strollers, finishing up a weekend day in the autumn weather.  The drivers still refused to let you in.  And we ultimately navigated to our hotel, a former prison.

And throughout it all, Todd’s "Boat On The Charles" was playing in my head…

Why don’t you leave
Why don’t you leave
Why don’t you leave

It takes such effort to stop the papers, the mail, deal with the airport hassle, but you land in a completely different environment and feel so STIMULATED!