The Songs In Your LIfe

2/27/13
How many times while driving your car, you hear a song and can instantly remember a memory about the song? When you first heard it, what grade your were in- if you were in school-, who you were dating at the time? I don’t know if its just me (because I do have an uncanny file compartment in my brain for my long term memories) but when I hear a song from way back when, I can flash back to that moment in time. Some songs are happy, fun memories of times gone by, and other songs have left me unnerved. Today, Kimmi and I were coming home from Ross (swimsuit shopping) and she had her fingers all over the buttons on the radio in the van. With Sirius, you have your pick of whatever it is that tickles your fancy. And Kimmi’s fancy today was hitting the stations for the 40′s (yes, 1940′s), the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s. The 40′s…. I had no clue as to what I was listening to. The 50′s not much better. But the 60′s, I do remember. “I got you Babe”, “Woolly Bully”, “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter”, to name a few. I may have been 8 years old in 1965 but I heard these songs playing on the console stereo and remember their names– not much more than that.

Now the 70′s was a whole new era in the way of music for me. When I think about the 70′s, most of my life took off from there- 1970- and music was a sort of soundtrack to all the things I experienced. In seventh grade there was “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” (and images of a hunky Robert Redford burned into my brain), The Jackson 5′s “I’ll be there”, and Bobby Sherman singing away to “Julie, Do Ya Love Me?” The last one, not exactly Grammy winning music but I liked it. By the time high school rolled around, I couldn’t get enough 8 tracks for my car. Going to Magic Mountain almost every night after getting off work, Sheree and I would hear the same songs played by the “house’ band they had there at the park. Eric Clapton’s “I Shot The Sheriff’ was played so often that I could hear it in my sleep. There were some real ‘lame’ songs hitting the airwaves too, and one that I think of was one that Patti LOVED to mimic “Seasons in the Sun”. If I never hear that song again, it would be too soon. During the ‘cruising Van Nuys Boulevard’ days, Linda and I would melt when we heard “Dream Weaver” come on the radio! If I was at home and she was at her house and the radio came on and we heard Dream Weaver come on, we were on the phone in seconds saying to each other “Ohhhhhhhhhhh” and then proceed to sing along.

Now, whenever I hear anything from Fleetwood Mac, ELO, Frampton, Boston, Lynrd Skynrd, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, I think of Dennis and dating and our wedding planning. I still remember when we were dating, we would go along with my parents and their friends to El Chaparral on Saturday night’s and danced. (Me dancing in public…. something I didn’t do too often and still don’t. Unless of course, I have thrown back a few and “Thriller” happens to be playing….. Watch out then!)

1970-1979 was a life changing decade for me. I began junior high in 1969-1970, had my first boyfriend, had my first kiss, heartbroken by first boyfriend, had my first love, then a second love, then first job, learned to drive, made life long friendships, found my destined love, got married and had my first child in 1979. That’s a jammed packed 9 years.

So today, as Kimmi was listening to the 70′s station on Sirius FM, and hearing Edwin Starr belt out “War” (and making faces as if the guy was singing in some foreign language), I could see she thought I was losing it for actually knowing some of the lyrics and singing along.

I have graduated from the classic rock and pop to the blood-pumping, shake-your-booty, dance/club beats (those fist pumping tunes that Jenni and I dance to in her bathroom at night). Got to keep making memories for The Songs in “My” Life.