Songs in the Key of My Life...
One of my favorites bloggers tagged me the other day and I am finally getting a chance to do it. Mel wanted me to:
1. Tell us of some songs in your life that remind you of a person, place or a specific event in your life. The kind of song that everytime you hear it, it will always, no matter what, make that person, place or "thing" pop into your head instantly. You can write as few or as many "songs" as you want. And it can be a song or two songs or a whole album.
2. Give a brief description of the person, place or thing it reminds you of.
I hope she knows how hard this is. I mean, it is usuallly only when I hear the song that I am transported back to that place. So I've spent the past few days trying to think of those songs that can do that. A very difficult time, although were I to listen to the radio for any length of time, almost every song takes me somewhere. Here's my best effort, mel. I hope it lives up to your standards. Click on the titles for a sample of each song in your media player.
Daydream Believer - The Monkees - I think I covered this one the other day.
Black Magic Woman - Santana - I remember this song specifically and others pouring from the dashboard speaker of our mother's 1967 Mercury Monterrey fast back as Wake would drive us to the dump on Saturday mornings in the late 60s. WDRC-AM 1360 pouring out this type quality as the sun shone brightly in the windows. Going down the dirt entrance to empty the trash cans stashed in the huge trunk. AM radio being the only option (this is before FM came along). One speaker above the dash. Happy as a clam.
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed - The Allman Brothers Band - I must have been around 14 or 15 (probably a freshman in high school). Wake took me to one of his soccer games (he played for a community college then). After the game, we went to a house. Perhaps it was one of the other player's house or the proverbial friend of a friend house. At any rate, I was definitely the youngest person there. But I had a chance to party with the "big boys." I seem to think, looking back, that the hosts had scored some a)quality or b)quantity of pot. I lean to "b" but the memory is hazy at best. We were one of the first to arrive, in concert other players and fans from the game. Good hosts that they were, they treated us well. We sat at the (dinner?) table and passed a joint or two around. The Allman Brothers Band - Live at the Fillmore was the soundtrack for the afternoon and this song in particular brings me back there. I envision two horses running in perfect unison, like pairs skaters, whenever I hear this song. Of course, the fact that I never got up from the table as more and more friends of the hosts' came to visit and more joints were passed my way may have influenced this memory. Wake was pissed after we finally made our way out of there, me as stoned as stoned can be.
"You didn't have to hit on every joint," he chastised me.
Dude, who knew? I was only 14. I (can't) remember it well.
Long, Long Time - Linda Ronstadt - Jan Yankauskas. I can't hear this song without remembering her. Perhaps my other "true love." This song was our song when we dated ("I think I'm gonna love you, for a long, long time")and it wrenched my heart after ("I think I'm gonna miss you for a long, long time").
Miracles - Jefferson Starship - This album was left over in the senior lounge in 1977. It was pretty much the only LP that would play in there and this song was on almost every time I hung out there in 1977. Whenever I hear it, I think of Scott Blackburn lighting a "blue flame", but it ignited on the inside of his new jeans and singed the hair on his ass and balls. One of the funniest things I have ever seen.
Hotel California - The Eagles - It's a Sunday night in 1978. Met some friends of Cutler's for the very first time at The Inn Place, a bar we frequented. Me, Cuts and Elpi were there. I'm home from college, they're working tomorrow. I'm thinking I'm a bad-ass party animal. So when they tell me, "it's two-way," I'm like, "yeah, yeah. whatever (only we didn't say "whatever" back then)." So I chew this blotter for a long time (that's how you could tell it was real 'cid - the paper didn't just disappear in your mouth) and have a beer. A few minutes later, it's last call. Bars closed in Connecticut at 10 PM on Sunday nights back then. I think I dosed between 9 and 9:30. Long story shortened, I got dropped off at home about an hour into this trip and it's all I can do to "maintain." Ma asks me to adjust the color on the TV as I am passing by (you had to do those things back then, especially with rabbit ears). After numerous, "How does this look to you?", I am allowed to escape upstairs. I was wired for about 5 hours; I'm not sure if I blinked. But I know I heard Hotel California as I wrote a strange stream of conscious diatribe. I haven't read it in 15 years or so, but it's around here somewhere. BTW, I believed Woch after that if he said two way or four way.
Just As I Am - this hymn reminds me of my mother. She once told me it was one of her favorites, and I have yet to meet anyone that seemed to understand the concept of Divine Grace any better than this woman from a small, small town in northern Maine. "Just as I am, without one plea...Oh Lamb of God, I come, I come." I think there is a reason the saying goes "make a deal with the Devil." Ma finally got that with God, no deals are needed.
I Can Only Imagine - Mercy Me - Stephanie's cousin sang this at her mother's funeral a few years ago. It brings a tear to my eye as I remember this celebration of a life lived in the comfort of knowing her Savior. She wasn't always perfect; she never claimed to be. But she had found redemption and wasn't shy about sharing her joy. Sharing. She never forced it on anyone. I'm pretty sure she danced, by the way.
California - Phantom Planet - The theme song to the TV series, The O.C., this song reminds me of my youngest daughter, Nicki. She allows me to watch this show (not WITH her, for gosh sakes!) and we will talk a little about it at times. And once in a while we will playback the DVR together. It is nice to have one thing shared...
Mel, there are so many choices and no one wants to read all this. But these jumped to the front when I started to consider...now you can consider me done.
1. Tell us of some songs in your life that remind you of a person, place or a specific event in your life. The kind of song that everytime you hear it, it will always, no matter what, make that person, place or "thing" pop into your head instantly. You can write as few or as many "songs" as you want. And it can be a song or two songs or a whole album.
2. Give a brief description of the person, place or thing it reminds you of.
I hope she knows how hard this is. I mean, it is usuallly only when I hear the song that I am transported back to that place. So I've spent the past few days trying to think of those songs that can do that. A very difficult time, although were I to listen to the radio for any length of time, almost every song takes me somewhere. Here's my best effort, mel. I hope it lives up to your standards. Click on the titles for a sample of each song in your media player.
Daydream Believer - The Monkees - I think I covered this one the other day.
Black Magic Woman - Santana - I remember this song specifically and others pouring from the dashboard speaker of our mother's 1967 Mercury Monterrey fast back as Wake would drive us to the dump on Saturday mornings in the late 60s. WDRC-AM 1360 pouring out this type quality as the sun shone brightly in the windows. Going down the dirt entrance to empty the trash cans stashed in the huge trunk. AM radio being the only option (this is before FM came along). One speaker above the dash. Happy as a clam.
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed - The Allman Brothers Band - I must have been around 14 or 15 (probably a freshman in high school). Wake took me to one of his soccer games (he played for a community college then). After the game, we went to a house. Perhaps it was one of the other player's house or the proverbial friend of a friend house. At any rate, I was definitely the youngest person there. But I had a chance to party with the "big boys." I seem to think, looking back, that the hosts had scored some a)quality or b)quantity of pot. I lean to "b" but the memory is hazy at best. We were one of the first to arrive, in concert other players and fans from the game. Good hosts that they were, they treated us well. We sat at the (dinner?) table and passed a joint or two around. The Allman Brothers Band - Live at the Fillmore was the soundtrack for the afternoon and this song in particular brings me back there. I envision two horses running in perfect unison, like pairs skaters, whenever I hear this song. Of course, the fact that I never got up from the table as more and more friends of the hosts' came to visit and more joints were passed my way may have influenced this memory. Wake was pissed after we finally made our way out of there, me as stoned as stoned can be.
"You didn't have to hit on every joint," he chastised me.
Dude, who knew? I was only 14. I (can't) remember it well.
Long, Long Time - Linda Ronstadt - Jan Yankauskas. I can't hear this song without remembering her. Perhaps my other "true love." This song was our song when we dated ("I think I'm gonna love you, for a long, long time")and it wrenched my heart after ("I think I'm gonna miss you for a long, long time").
Miracles - Jefferson Starship - This album was left over in the senior lounge in 1977. It was pretty much the only LP that would play in there and this song was on almost every time I hung out there in 1977. Whenever I hear it, I think of Scott Blackburn lighting a "blue flame", but it ignited on the inside of his new jeans and singed the hair on his ass and balls. One of the funniest things I have ever seen.
Hotel California - The Eagles - It's a Sunday night in 1978. Met some friends of Cutler's for the very first time at The Inn Place, a bar we frequented. Me, Cuts and Elpi were there. I'm home from college, they're working tomorrow. I'm thinking I'm a bad-ass party animal. So when they tell me, "it's two-way," I'm like, "yeah, yeah. whatever (only we didn't say "whatever" back then)." So I chew this blotter for a long time (that's how you could tell it was real 'cid - the paper didn't just disappear in your mouth) and have a beer. A few minutes later, it's last call. Bars closed in Connecticut at 10 PM on Sunday nights back then. I think I dosed between 9 and 9:30. Long story shortened, I got dropped off at home about an hour into this trip and it's all I can do to "maintain." Ma asks me to adjust the color on the TV as I am passing by (you had to do those things back then, especially with rabbit ears). After numerous, "How does this look to you?", I am allowed to escape upstairs. I was wired for about 5 hours; I'm not sure if I blinked. But I know I heard Hotel California as I wrote a strange stream of conscious diatribe. I haven't read it in 15 years or so, but it's around here somewhere. BTW, I believed Woch after that if he said two way or four way.
Just As I Am - this hymn reminds me of my mother. She once told me it was one of her favorites, and I have yet to meet anyone that seemed to understand the concept of Divine Grace any better than this woman from a small, small town in northern Maine. "Just as I am, without one plea...Oh Lamb of God, I come, I come." I think there is a reason the saying goes "make a deal with the Devil." Ma finally got that with God, no deals are needed.
I Can Only Imagine - Mercy Me - Stephanie's cousin sang this at her mother's funeral a few years ago. It brings a tear to my eye as I remember this celebration of a life lived in the comfort of knowing her Savior. She wasn't always perfect; she never claimed to be. But she had found redemption and wasn't shy about sharing her joy. Sharing. She never forced it on anyone. I'm pretty sure she danced, by the way.
California - Phantom Planet - The theme song to the TV series, The O.C., this song reminds me of my youngest daughter, Nicki. She allows me to watch this show (not WITH her, for gosh sakes!) and we will talk a little about it at times. And once in a while we will playback the DVR together. It is nice to have one thing shared...
Mel, there are so many choices and no one wants to read all this. But these jumped to the front when I started to consider...now you can consider me done.
posted by Kurt at 7:10 PM
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