Ariel

This nostalgic song about suburban teenage love was unlike anything else on the radio in 1977, and it resonated with listeners who were reminded of happier times in their younger years. The song takes place in Paramus, New Jersey, where the singer/songwriter Dean Friedman grew up, although he was living in the Bronx when he wrote it. Dean told us that Ariel was "an amalgamation of all these cute teenage girls in peasant blouses I had a crush on growing up in Paramus." (Here's our full interview with Dean Friedman.)

There are lots of specific references in this song that describes the couple's date which leads to a night of lovemaking. While John Mellencamp's "Jack & Diane" hung out at the Tastee Freez, in New Jersey the Dairy Queen was the ice cream shop/fried food purveyor of choice, and we find out that Ariel had onion rings and a pickle. When we hear about Ariel "collecting quarters for the friends of BAI," that's a reference to the New York City radio station WBAI, which had a listener association called the "friends of BAI." Friedman's brother was a member of this group and did indeed sit by the waterfall in Paramus Park collecting quarters for the station. Other lyrics came directly from Friedman's life as well: his roommate in college had a VW van, and he played his share of gigs in the American Legion Hall.

In this song, Ariel is from "the other side of the Hudson." For the Paramus area of New Jersey, that would be Yonkers or The Bronx on the other side of the Hudson river. Said Friedman, "You're conscious that there are two sides to the Hudson. I was also conscious that where I grew up was very much this side, supposedly idyllic suburbia, the home of shopping centers, the Garden State Plaza, and the Bergen Mall."