"You're on my mind, wherever you are"

I still remember the smell of FRIETS AND KROKETS from my family's 1980 summer in THE NETHERLANDS.
Nearly three decades later, whenever I smell something similar, my mind goes back to windmills and wooden shoes and canals.
During that summer of cultural immersion, I heard cricket on the radio while watching sailboats ply canals and struggled to read Dutch soccer magazines detailing the hooligan problems plaguing the European Championships in Italy.
One song towered over all others -- both during the actual trip to Holland and my subsequent, deep-seated memories.
I found that song yesterday on iTunes, after years of searching.
"Love of my life, I will never leave you, you're on my mind, wherever you are."
"MARIANA" was the fifth, worldwide-charting single by the GIBSON BROTHERS, a Martinique-born, French disco trio.
Although the song reached No. 10 in America and No. 11 in Britain, it must have scored much higher in Holland -- it seemed like it was on Dutch radio all the time.
"Mariana, Maria mi amor, Mariana, I miss you more and more."
A catchy melody with relatively simple lyrics, I found myself humming the tune throughout our European stay and for years after we returned home.
During subsequent years, one of the various artist compilation cassette tapes I purchased included "CUBA," the Gibson Brothers' biggest worldwide hit.
I never came close to finding "Mariana," however.
By the time I began buying records in earnest, the trio's popularity had waned and alternative rock preoccupied my trips to the music store.
"I still remember the very first time, I saw you and your eyes met mine. I wish it could happen again."
I never forgot the song, though, and like the smell of freshly made French fries, "Mariana" became a link to my Dutch memories.
Imagine my delight, then, when I was searching for songs to fill a FRENCH DISCO playlist for my iPod and there it was -- "Mariana."
I quickly purchased both it and "Cuba."
Now, I a burning it on a CD to play when I drive Jill, the girls and my niece Morgan to Dubuque's NATIONAL MISSISSIPPI RIVER MUSEUM & AQUARIUM this afternoon.
Who knows, maybe "Mariana" will become indelibly embedded in another person's musical consciousness?