Fall on the farm: “You are the one” by Mike and the Mechanics

This morning I was leaving my house when I looked around. It was a cooler morning, but not cold. Leaves have begun to change colour. The texture of the air and the smell. They all make it feel like fall.

It took me back to my last fall on the farm in October of 1986, and that made me think of a song that always reminds me of that time.

“You Are the One” by Mike and the Mechanics, never made the radio, as far as I know. Yet it is my favourite song from their debut album “Mike and the Mechanics”, which came out earlier that year.

It was a time of change not just for the season, but for me too.

The song
The “Mike and the Mechanics” album came out in October of 1985 and really hit its stride in the first half of 1986 for me.

By then, I had joined Columbia House, and started buying records. I would then have my sister record them onto blank TDK tapes, that I would listen to on my ghetto blaster.

I already thought about buying “Mike and the Mechanics” because the singles I heard from it on the radio were awesome – “Silent Running”, “All I Need is a Miracle” and “Taken in”. Then, I heard an album highlight for it on LA-107, and that introduced me to a bunch of other songs.

My best friend Chris Vining, had already bought the album, and really liked it too.

So I placed my order and, a few weeks later, it appeared at the mail box.

Over the years, I have had this discussion with many people about how the best songs on an album may never make the radio.

That was certainly the case with “Mike and the Mechanics”.

It had a lot of great songs, but there is one that really stands out.

It is called “You are the One”.

Waiting for the bus
In the fall, sugar beet harvest started on our farm. My parents would be up at the crack of dawn and in the field. Mom would always be there with me watching for the school bus. When I got old enough to be left by myself, they were often gone before I woke up, or on their way out.

By the Fall of 1986, they were gone, and I was alone. We had this room off the side of the house we called the veranda. It had the window with the best view to see the school bus coming. It was also right beside the living room, where my Mom’s turntable and tape deck were.

So, I started listening to music while I watched for the bus. I had such a clear view, I could see it in plenty of time to get ready, turn off the music, and be there when it pulled up.

That’s when I listened to the entire “Mike and the Mechanics” album, and really discovered “You are the One”.

It is such a powerful ballad, the kind that I really love.

It would sit like, what we now call an ear worm, in my mind as I rode the bus to school.

Changing times
That period in my life was a time of change. I had my licence, so I had more mobility and freedom. I was going out more to things such as high school football games, hanging out with some different people, and just having a great time.

I really hadn’t clued in at the time it was the last Fall before I left home and life would really change. That would be the last Fall living on the farm for me.

Yet, a year later I would be in a completely different place, and never really looked back.

Parting thoughts
“You are the One” was never released as a single, so it never hit the radio, and I never know how it would have resonated with others the way it did with me.

Still, when I listen to “Mike and the Mechanics”, and hear “You are the One”, I can still picture myself bundled up, crouching to look through a window with frost covering it, and wondering what the day would bring.

Part of the song goes, “You are the one, oh you are the one, you make it all worthwhile, make it all worthwhile.”

I can say the same about listening to the song.