Tag: 1966

Friday’s Theme Music

Care for a little cream for your Friday coffee?

Robert Johnson’s masterpiece, “Crossroads” (or “Cross Roads Blues”) has been covered by many. I like the Cream version because it was the first one I heard when I was young. It’s hard to overcome that first love. More metaphysically, it’s a song that captures so much of life’s essence, IMO. We think, after making a journey, that we’ve gone somewhere. And we have, but then, we found ourselves at another crossroad. Decisions are made, moods are felt, directions are chosen, prayers are offered, and help is sought.

So here you are, on Friday, with a “Crossroads” about what to do, where to go, and maybe, who to be.

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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.

 

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Today’s Theme Music

“Time Won’t Let Me” is a song by a group called The Outsiders.

In nineteen sixty-six, I was ten years old, part of a small group of neighborhood children on McNary Boulevard in Wilkinsburg that included Tracy and Carolann, and Mike and Richard. The group fluctuated as people moved, went on vacation, or attended Bible School. Technically, I’d moved away to Penn Hills, but I came back to visit friends.

I don’t know who, exactly, bought this record, or the rest. We listened to them on a little portable turntable. The record was part of a stack of forty-five R.P.M. singles. Setting up in someone’s basement during the summer months, we listened and danced to these records while pretending to sing the songs and play the instruments. The Monkees began dominating the stack, although Johnny Rivers had a strong presence. Others included Herman and the Hermits, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Nancy Sinatra. As the summer passed, our interests and musical tastes shifted. But for a while, we had our forty-fives.

Now, watching this video, I laugh.

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Today’s Theme Music

Yes, I know what the calendar says. According to it, it isn’t summer. But we have one of those hot, humid weeks in our little city brewing where you feel the sweat, heat and grit on the back of your neck.

Here’s the Lovin’ Spoonful in nineteen sixty-six with “Summer in the City.”

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Today’s Theme Music

I was sent on a secret mission this morning. I’d tell you about it but I assume that if you’re reading this, you understand what secret means. Perhaps I’ve erred.

Naturally I needed secret mission theme music. The world abounds with such music but I dropped back to an early favorite. The TV show, ‘Secret Agent Man’ with Patrick McGoohan, played in the US in the mid 1960s. Dad was back in the country for a period then, and I remember watching the show while visiting him at my grandparents’ house.

Here it is, that 1966 hit, Johnny Rivers singing ‘Secret Agent Man’.

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