So, today we return to our roots, gray as they are.
I went through a pretty long laundry list of possibilities for today and I had a hard time nailing just one down. As I kid, there was lots of music around. Mom loved the Oak Ridge Boys but I could not bear to inflict Elvira on all of my very patient readers. She also had some Elvis, Christy Lane, Herb Albert and the Tijauana Brass on the record player quite a bit, as well as the Statler Brothers and Barbara Mandrell. I remember my brother Robin having the soundtrack from Grease and Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, as well as The Commodores, and The Partridge Family usually handy. Mike was more the cool music of Journey, Styx and I think the guys name was Jackson Browne. I had (and please don't make ANY comments here) Shaun Cassidy, Sesame Street 45's, and the soundtrack to the Wizard of Oz (Hush now!) early on and later Men At Work, Bonnie Tyler, and Amy Grant. Not wanting to leave out my Dad, all I remember really him listening to was Paul Harvey, you know, "And that's the rest of the story....". Dad was not a huge music fan, but I have to admit, I did like Paul Harvey's stories. Dad did have an 8track of The Carpenters. This I do remember. (And for the record, I have that same album on CD now. It is still good after all these years.)
What I listened to pretty much depended on where I was in the house at the time. Mom's record player was in the dining room and covered the main part of the house. My brother Robin had a very cool JC Penny Stereo that had both a Record Player, Cassette deck and AM/FM stereo all in one console. I had only limited access to that, and then only when my he was either not home or he wanted the tv in the living room. Then I could get his permission to go into listen to his stereo. Mike and I shared a room for a while but then he set up a very cool room in the basement, and I was granted similar access on a limited bases. All three came with the same rule though. DON'T SCRATCH THE RECORDS!!!!!! And if I did, Ohhhhhhhhhh there was a price to be paid!!!!!!
Now, looking back, with all of these different options and genre's of music playing throughout the house, I guess it is no surprise that my tastes have such a wide range. My family prepared me very well for that. With all of these options to choose from today, I was at an impasse. How do I choose?
Well, I guess I decided to go outside the box, since I could not pick just one of these, and go a different route. There were some songs that I listened to very very faithfully as I grew up. I only got to hear them on Saturdays, but I listened to them for years! Saturday morning cartoons were just the BEST! I almost always had the tv to myself for at least a couple hours, and that was rare! I would get up in time to catch the Superfriends (I loved Aquaman....and I said Hush!), and then I could catch any number of morning greats. The Smurfs, Shazam, Electro Woman and Dyna Girl, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Hong Kong Phooey, the Schmoo, and sometimes Kookla, Fran and Ollie. I would watch until finally the cartoons were slowly displaced by Saturday movies or Sports, or whatever else came on to mark the end of children's programming for the day. Commercial breaks were either a chance for me to raid the kitchen for saltines or a handful of pickles and then run back to the living room for more. Also commercial breaks were when I heard some of my favorite songs, which finally brings me to point.
Interjections!
Aw man, now I got myself thinking about the Preamble and had to listen to it too!
No comments:
Post a Comment