You see me crying … don’t you?

It had to be sometime around 1975.

It was at a place called Headstone and Friends. Basically, a “head shop” in downtown Terre Haute, Ind. Even though weed remains illegal in Indiana to this day, Headstone carries on the tradition of selling everything you can think of to consume cannabis. Just not the weed.

I was in there because I had just made the second-largest purchase of my life. At the age of 17, my largest purchase was the 1964 Ford Fairlane I bought from my aunt Barbara. It think I paid $500 for that beast. Black on the outside, red on the inside. A 260 V8 engine. I loved that car.

So after paying off the car, I made that second largest purchase — an eight-track player.

There I was with my black Fairlane and an eight-track player. Problem was, I didn’t have any eight tracks. Thus the trip to Headstone, which was also a store that sold albums and eight tracks.

I didn’t have a lot of money. Hardly any, in fact. And to my astonishment, the eight tracks at the time were around $20. Crazy.

I had to pick an eight track. But which one? There were so many choices but with such a steep price tag, I could only pick one.

Nor sure how long I looked around and pondered and had that battle within before making a decision. It was a while. And then I did it.

Aerosmith, Toys in the Attic.

To this day, I don’t regret that decision. I immediately tore open the box when I got to the Fairlane and slapped that baby into my brand spanking new eight-track player.

The title track came on. I know that opening riff to this day.

In fact, I know every word to every song on Toys in the Attic to this day. You see, it was the only eight track I had for well over a month before I could scrape up another $20 and go back to Headstone.

Do you know the following verse to You See Me Crying, the last track on the album?

You see me crying

Please say you’ll stick around

And I got to be your lover, honey

Let me take you to town

And I’ll show you everything that I know

And I’ll never ever let you down

‘Cause my love is like a merry go round

I chose the Aerosmith eight track because, well, I love Aerosmith. Always have and always will. I have seen them live four times and every show has been outstanding. Steven Tyler is one of the greatest vocalists of all time.

The point of all of this, if there is one, came back to me the other afternoon when I was mowing the back 40 at my place. I was wearing my high-tech headphones and listening to my playlist.

And there it was: You See Me Crying.

I fear I was shouting (my attempt at singing) and that Nicole probably heard me clear down there on the patio. I can’t imagine what the neighbors were thinking.

My thoughts immediately raced back to Headstone and the Fairlane. Just how far we have come, I reasoned, that I can listen to that track while riding a lawnmower in California. At my fingertips. No eight track needed.

It really had me thinking about technology and the advancements I have seen in my lifetime.

Those of you old enough to remember know how to tear apart an eight track and re-thread the tape so it will play again. Now, you just have to hit “refresh” if something goes awry.

And all of this is at your fingertips on the pocket computer some call an iPhone. You can even type in a few letters, say “you see m…” and magically, that Aerosmith song pops up and you hit play.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Back in those days when I was still in high school, I was writing newspaper stories on an IBM Selectric. Look it up, young whippersnappers.

Now, I am writing this column on my fancy Mac desktop computer that also allows me to put it on the “pages” and send it to the printer to be burned onto a plate and then placed with ink onto newsprint. (That printing part hasn’t changed a lot since back in the day.)

And even though I am a stickler for looking at maps and memorizing directions so I don’t have to listen to that annoying Australian guy tell me which lane to be in, I have bowed to the pressure on occasion in the big city. (But I have the Aussie female, much more pleasant.)

It is amazing just how far we have come. My great-grandmother Nora Price was around when the automobile was invented. My grandma Gladys Little had a party line phone and then lived to see a human walk on the moon.

I had an IBM Selectric and now am communicating on anything that beings with an “i.”

The next obvious question is what is going to happen over the next 10, 20, 500 years? What could it be like?

The possibilities are certainly unlimited. They are already starting to roll out air taxis to avoid the crush of cars in places like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Seems reasonable but you couldn’t drag me into one of those.

Star Trek pretty much predicted the iPhone. Will “beaming” people around the world be next? Don’t rule it out.

It can blow your mind to think what might be coming.

I remember when my mom worked at the last television manufacturing plant in America. Zenith in Paris, Ill., was the last place televisions were ever made in this country. They all were farmed out to China, Mexico and many other places. None are made in America to this day.

But back then, getting a newfangled “color” television required a bank loan. Today, you can go to Costco and pick up a measly 75 inch model for under $500.

I think that eight-track player and speakers cost me at least $400 back in the day. That would be $2,400 in today’s dollars.

So the advancing technology has certainly brought down the price of many things but it has also come at a cost.

Sanity.

Those “i” devices were just last week found by a jury to be part of an addiction. Not surprising.

Yet I still do enjoy that 70 inch TV I picked the Christmas before last for the crazy price of $325 thanks to a small gash in the cardboard box at Walmart.

You see, even with advances in technology and so much more, holes happen in cardboard boxes just like they did back then. Some things never change.

Now, back to my pocket computer.

You see me crying; don’t let it get you down …

Greg Little is editor of the Mariposa Gazette and can be reached at greg@mariposagazette.com