Remembering “Be Near Me” by ABC

It was a time when I was just getting interested in girls and also venturing out more and more beyond the farm. My friends were getting their licences, and we were forming new and different friendships.

There was one particular night that sticks out in my memory.

Every time I hear “Be Near Me” by ABC, I am taken back to that time.

Crush on you
Early in Grade 11, I started developing a crush on this girl in my grade. We had a few classes together, including math and accounting, and she was a bit of a flirt. These feelings were all new to me, so I had no idea what was innocent flirtation versus something more serious.

So, my crush grew.

In accounting class, we had a project that took the better part of a couple months. We were given a lot of class time to do it, so there was a lot of visiting and chatting while we worked.

It also provided an opportunity to get to know her better, which I thought was cool.

Yet, I had no idea how to proceed, and what to do to act on these growing feelings.

So I did nothing.

I waited for a sign that she might really like me, so I wouldn’t be taking too big a chance.

The invitation
Then one Saturday morning, I thought that sign came.

The phone rang, and it was from her. She asked me what I was doing in a couple Thursdays. My hopes grew.

“Nothing,” I said.

She was on the cheerleading squad and they were having a fundraising spaghetti dinner in the school gym. She had to sell a certain number of tickets.

Sign me up, I said.

I knew it was not a date, or anything, but I took it as a sign to be hopeful.

Spaghetti supper
It was still the first semester of Grade 11, the Fall of 1985, and I was still 15. Without a licence, I had to find a ride to town, because my folks were often busy on the farm.

My good friend Mat was also my neighbour. He had his licence, and he was giving me rides to places more and more.

He had something to do, so he would meet me at the spaghetti supper, then we’d go home together.

After school, I arranged to hang out with my friend Shawn who was also in that accounting class. He had a friend named Mike, so we all went back to his place after school to play this new video game.

Mike gave us a ride to his place. The radio was playing and the song was “Be Near Me” by ABC.

Pretty soon, it was time to go to the spaghetti supper.

The girl was there to greet us, and showed us to a table.

We had a great meal, and were milling around after.

Something happened, I don’t recall what, but Shawn ended up getting chased by someone and came straight towards me. I couldn’t get out of his way so he jumped and I caught him.

The girl thought that was pretty cool.

So she asked me if we could try.

Try what, I asked.

If she came towards me and I caught her. It could make a good cheerleading number.

I was in, because I really just wanted to be near her.

We did that a coupler times, and it went okay, although I could not see what it was leading to.

Then Shawn asked if he could try.

She ran towards him, and he caught her. Then he swung her over his left shoulder like Tarzan might do with Jane, and ran out of the gym.

That was the end of that – in more ways than one.

I never really did go out with her, but that is a much larger story.

The song
“Be Near Me” by ABC was from their album “How to be a…Zillionare!” The song went all the way to number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It also peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in September of 1985, not too much after the spaghetti supper.

Parting thoughts
It was a transitional time I my life. I was discovering girls, venturing out on my own and trying to deal with feelings I never really had before.

Every time I hear “Be Near Me” by ABC, I am taken back to that time, that spaghetti supper, and my first teenage crush.