Category: childhood

Today’s Theme Music

I awoke with, “Hey mister tambourine man, play a song for me,” streaming through my head. It’s a mellow classic, innit? Yeah, and much too mellow for me that morning. I’ve not really been a mellow music man. I prefer something harder, with screaming vocals, slashing guitars, and a hailstorm of drumming.

Ah, what better than “Highway Star,” by Deep Purple, from the “Made In Japan” live album. It’s not soulful, but elemental, and probably in the top five on my fave list of live rock albums, due to the sentimentality of who I was when I first heard it. I had it on eight track, and wore that mutha out. It became first, comical, and then, irritating, as the eight track slowly lost its fidelity and developed lots of warble, wow and flutter. It was, like, woof. Eventually, I quit listening to it, but once CDs came out over a decade later, I hunted down a remastered copy.

Listening to it, I’m back in high school, with the lights off and the music up, riding a sonic wave.

0

Today’s Theme Music

Today’s song was a staple of our neighborhood air group. Energetic, enthusiastic, and easy to learn – important for nine-year-old air musicians – we loved getting up on our chairs in a basement with our air-guitars and air-mics, beating our air-drums, and performing “Good Lovin’.” I struggled with the group’s name; I always wanted to call them the Little Rascals, but that was a different group.

Here’s the Young Rascal’s recording of “Good Lovin’,” from nineteen sixty-five. Wow, fifty-two years ago. It aged well, don’t you think?

 

 

 

3

Today’s Theme Music

As I’ve aged and semi-matured, I’ve developed fondness for certain performers. (Semi-matured; sounds like an adjective for a wine or cheese.) For example, when I used to hear Dame Judi Dench’s or Helen Mirren’s name attached to something, it automatically dialed up my interest level. I thought they were sensational actresses, and I thought they were more adept at selecting scripts and projects. Same with books and music.

In music, Billy Preston was one of those names for me. No matter the venue or music genre, I always enjoyed Preston’s performances. He had several high-charting songs, including this one, “Will It Go Round in Circles.” He has co-writer credit on the song with Bruce Fisher. Bruce and Billy also co-wrote, “You Are So Beautiful,” and “Nothing From Nothing.” A talented guy, but he seemed to deliver an energy to his music, and I admired that.

For your Monday listening pleasure, streaming from a television appearance recorded in nineteen seventy-three, Billy Preston.

 

0

Today’s Theme Music

Life is but a roller coaster, you know? One hour you’re up, the next hour finds you on the ground. We flutter from ecstasy to frustration, coping with drugs, alcohol and other escapes.

Love, wow, love can be the wildest roller coaster. The Ohio Players covered it in song, “Love Rollercoaster,” in nineteen seventy-five. I enjoyed the song when it came out, along with a few other million people. It became one of those ubiquitous songs, played in clubs and on the radio twenty-four/seven.

Besides being one of the anthems of nineteen seventies America, “Love Rollercoaster” is burdened with an urban myth. Not too long into the song is a scream. I never thought much about the scream, considering it part of their presentation, but others assigned serious reasons behind the scream, like people or animals being killed or injured. After explaining what caused the scream (one of the singers – surprise!), the Ohio Players embraced a vow of silence about the song, refusing to talk about the scream.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers later covered it. I enjoy their version, but, being a traditionalist, I stayed with the Ohio Players.

1

Today’s Theme Music

This is one of those songs from my second spring.

The song came out in nineteen seventy-three, which was the spring of my adulthood. Seventeen, I was living in West Virginia with my father. He was newly retired from the U.S. Air Force. Then entering my senior year of high school, I was finding love and thinking about the future beyond classes. Nothing was working out as planned, so I was winging it, the process by which I’d end up living my life: just wing that mutha.

“Ballroom Blitz,” by Sweet, nicely captures and conveys the chaos and pathos of that period as hormones and emotions took over, and I impatiently pursued life.

0

Today’s Theme Music

I woke up in a Foghat state of mind.

I’d had an exciting and interesting dream about a recent dream. Without disclosing more, it was tremendously uplifting, bolstering my self-confidence to scary levels. I will note that I dreamed about the number eight again, which makes, unofficially, but what I can remember and enumerate, seven times. I’m waiting to see if I’ll dream of eight an eight time to end the series.

Back to Foghat. Those of you of certain ages and inclination will remember this song. “I Just Want to Make Love to You” is a blues staple that’s been well-covered by some great artists. But I encountered Foghat’s version first. It was nineteen seventy-two, and I was sixteen, a wonderful combination. By then, I was enamored with rock and guitars. Foghat’s cover of this song opens with rocking guitars, and doesn’t let up. What else needs said?

0

Can You Remember?

On this day, the moon landing took place.

I remember it. I was a newly-minted thirteen-year-old. I watched the historic event downstairs. Downstairs was the cellar, or basement, as we called it, in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. That’s where the family room, laundry room, garage, and my bedroom were located. It used to flood when it rained hard. Fortunately, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, suburb only experienced rain about half of the year.

The lights were off in the family room, and cool air bathed the space. Sitting on the couch, the one that used to be upstairs before we bought new living room furniture, I watched Eagle land on the moon on a big Magnavox console color television. I always thought the television was stolen and purchased from a fence. Even when new, it had a small area in the upper right corner where the picture tube – televisions had picture tubes, back then – appeared cracked. At least, what it showed was a distorted bubble of rainbow colors.

It was good enough to watch the moon landing, though. There wasn’t even a need to rotate the outdoor antenna or adjust the rabbit ears. All three major networks were carrying the event. We only had the three, then. Cable news wasn’t carrying it, because cable hadn’t proliferated around the nation like a blackberry bramble gone wild, and there weren’t any national cable news channels. They were still in our future.

We were excited about the future, despite what was happening and had happened. Perhaps I was only excited because I was young. The Vietnam war still continued, and Nixon was in the White House. Watergate was still a few years away. So was our first gasoline crises since World War II. Microwaves were only emerging, and we mostly played music on forty-five and thirty-three R.P.M. vinyl records. We also listened to music on radios, especially in our cars, especially A.M. It was pretty impressive that our old Dodge had a push-button radio. Later on, after the first man walked on the moon and made his famous utterance, I went outside and gazed up at the stars, wondering what the future would bring.

All in all, it was a pretty cool night.

8

Today’s Theme Music

Modern technology hasn’t solved all our of ancient ills, but it’s facilitated widespread, easy entertainment. For me, in the sixties – that’s the last century, for those of you keeping score at home – that meant a transistor radio. Made in Japan, it was deplored as a cheap import, but it worked quite well in the hands of a nine or ten year old boy, until he took it apart to see what a transistor was.

Before I encountered the British invasion, before I discovered rock, I heard the Motown sound. A huge part were groups like the Four Tops, Temptations, and Supremes. I hadn’t appreciated what a large part they played until I looked up music for those groups last night. I was looking them up to refresh myself with their music, because we’re going to go watch the Four Tops and Temptations perform tonight. Should be fun.

As a reminder, here are the Four Tops with “Reach Out (I’ll Be There),” from nineteen sixty-six. It’s a sweet sound.

 

0

Today’s Theme Music

“Driving that train, high on cocaine. Casey Jones, you’d better watch your speed. Trouble ahead, trouble behind, and you know that notion just crossed my mind.”

Those were the words I was singing one day while passing through Mom’d living room. She was busy cleaning. Mom did – and does – have a spotless house. I was fourteen or fifteen, with long hair that irritated Mom and Dad, and a faint mustache and goatee that annoyed my school and coaches. Mom said, “What are you singing?”

I stopped and grew still, as children often do when suddenly challenged by an adult about something that seems obvious. “Singing “Casey Jones.””

“But what were you singing?”

“I don’t know.”

Yes, claim amnesia whenever possible. Mom didn’t look happy but, after waiting for follow-up questions, I discreetly scurried away. Later, I concluded, it must have been the cocaine part, right? I chuckled about that.

Mom and Dad were divorced, and still later, while at Dad’s place, I was walking through his living room, singing…you know it.

“What are you singing?” he asked.

Having been through this questioning and being older, I skipped ahead to the lyrics instead of providing the title. After hearing them, he shook his head. Smiling, I moved on.

Here it is, as performed by the Grateful Dead, “Casey Jones,” from nineteen seventy.

 

0

Today’s Theme Music

Had beers (Caldera Pilot Rock Porter for me, thanks) with my friends last night. A staid group, they’re retired materials and sound engineers, doctors, university professors, and physicists. A small group, just eight last night, I’m the youngest by eight years. None of those present last night knew this song. Hope you do.

Here’s ZZ Top performing “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” on their nineteen seventy-three album, “Tres Hombres.” I listened to this album a great deal during my junior and senior high school years, especially in art class.

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑