I am saddened by what I see in Cleveland today. And, frankly, I’m a Browns fan, so it takes something for Cleveland to make me sad. The GOP convention has done it.

So I just want to think back to a gentler time, when the Browns were maybe just a year or so away from winning it all, in the late 1970s. Yes, Cleveland was not exactly in a peak year… but this is Cleveland. From outside, a joke. From inside, always hopeful. Not deluded, but hopeful. Yes, the butt of jokes, but never ever as bad as claimed. And by damn, proud to be Cleveland.

Anyway, I just want to share some of the Cleveland of that era. Not “Cleveland Rocks”, although that is of the same generation (now it’s the Drew Carey Show theme song), but a couple of songs that never made it big outside of northeast Ohio. These bring me back to the last years of high school, first years of college. Feel free to link your equivalent music in the comments.

First, the Euclid Beach Band:

I’ve seen 10+ foot swells break over the docks, but realistically, no, there is no surf in Cleveland, USA.

Next, the skinny little boy from Cleveland, Ohio, Alex Bevan. You have to listen to this one, even if you hate it, and me by extension, as a result. This was a live version on WMMS (home of the buzzard) a million years ago, and I am so happy someone saved it.

Yeah, his “Grand River Lullaby” is a bit more romantic, and was “our song” for at least three couples I knew (holy crap, all three divorced now, which seems a bit appropriate given the opening lines)

Anyway… tl;dr: Cleveland is better than the GOP convention. Yeah, it has problems, and needs work. But I really don’t think anything happening at the Q is going to help Cleveland, so I’m waxing nostalgic instead.