If you're like me, music is an active experience. I feel like my life has a soundtrack. A song can take you back to a moment in time. Sometimes the music is tied to a specific person or place. No matter how many years go by, you hear a song and there you are again - 25, 17, 12 - surrounded by the faces and spaces of your past. This is first in a series I'm calling "Music and Memory."
When you are the youngest in the family with four children, you inherit a lot of things from your siblings. Clothes, toys, books – this is all expected to be handed down. If you’re the youngest in your family, there is something else you may have inherited without even realizing it… your taste in music.
First of all, we need to talk about the age differences, and the years of music I've been lucky enough to be exposed to. My sister Audrey was born in 1956, Louis was born in 1960, Paul in ’62 and I was born in ’67. So, while I was in the womb and not able to experience the music of the “Summer of Love” for myself, my sister experienced for me and brought it into my life through the 45’s she kept in the green box on the ledge next to the bar in my parents’ basement.
The basement. So many of my early musical memories involve that basement. The metal steps that led down to the basement were like a little gateway to freedom and privacy in a house made up of “railroad rooms.” The large, finished basement was where we played with our friends, where we studied and did homework, where my brother Paul painted. It was where we would eventually have alone time with boyfriends and girlfriends. It was where we listened to music.
So when I hear certain songs or groups, suddenly I am there in the basement – the black and white check Kentile beneath my feet, the smell of linseed oil, and my Dad stomping with intent on the floor above me. Translation: “Lower that!”
The Young Rascals, Al Green, The Loving Spoonful, Edwin Starr, The Jackson Five and so many others were found in that green fabric case that held my sister’s records. She wrote the names of her favorite bands all over it in blue pen. Here’s how young I was: I hadn’t even learned how to read yet. I used to memorize the label on the record I liked - A&M, Dick Clark, Arista, Motown. Of course, lots of different artists shared common labels, so mistakes would be made. But they weren’t mistakes really, since they were all great songs. I remember thinking that Edwin Starr’s “25 Miles” was funny because he was talking to his feet. “Come on feet don’t fail me now. I got 10 more miles to go…”
When I hear Led Zeppelin, it’s all about my brothers for me. It’s Louis’ turntable that I wasn’t allowed to touch, but did. It’s Paul and I trying to hear the “backward masking” on “Stairway to Heaven.” It’s me, devouring the album covers, lyrics and liner notes.
It’s funny to think about the backward masking. Why would you want to listen to that music backward, when listening to it forward is so damn good? Funny how back then we had to search for controversy to some extent whereas now “artists” use words I won’t repeat here and “sing” about murder right up front. Last year an Oscar was awarded to the writer of a song entitled, “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp.”
Alleged devil worship hidden in the reverse of a song seems so innocent now.
As far as Zeppelin goes, “Stairway to Heaven” isn’t a favorite of mine. I’m all about the songs that really highlight Jimmy Page’s distinctive guitar riffs and John Bonham’s drumming genius - “Houses of the Holy,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” and “Rock and Roll” come to mind. Songs like “The Ocean”, “Fool in the Rain”, and “Dancing Days” get into your head and stay there. The sexiness of “D’Yer, Mak’er” makes a girl want give Robert Plant another chance.
Music and memory jump from past to present now as Led Zeppelin also reminds me of my friend Heidi’s husband, Chad. He’s a big Led Zep fan, although, like me, is a little too young to have gotten there on his own. I wonder where he first heard them. He also plays guitar though, so it stands to reason that he would be enamored with an old school guitarist like Page.
It’s funny when Heidi teases him and asks, “When is it going to end?” She didn’t know that this love affair that Chad has with Led Zeppelin was going to be a lifelong thing.
When it still holds up after all these years, why not?
And so dear reader, here's where you come in. Any memories you'd like to share? Any songs or artists you'd like me to write about? Let's hear it!
First of all, we need to talk about the age differences, and the years of music I've been lucky enough to be exposed to. My sister Audrey was born in 1956, Louis was born in 1960, Paul in ’62 and I was born in ’67. So, while I was in the womb and not able to experience the music of the “Summer of Love” for myself, my sister experienced for me and brought it into my life through the 45’s she kept in the green box on the ledge next to the bar in my parents’ basement.
The basement. So many of my early musical memories involve that basement. The metal steps that led down to the basement were like a little gateway to freedom and privacy in a house made up of “railroad rooms.” The large, finished basement was where we played with our friends, where we studied and did homework, where my brother Paul painted. It was where we would eventually have alone time with boyfriends and girlfriends. It was where we listened to music.
So when I hear certain songs or groups, suddenly I am there in the basement – the black and white check Kentile beneath my feet, the smell of linseed oil, and my Dad stomping with intent on the floor above me. Translation: “Lower that!”
The Young Rascals, Al Green, The Loving Spoonful, Edwin Starr, The Jackson Five and so many others were found in that green fabric case that held my sister’s records. She wrote the names of her favorite bands all over it in blue pen. Here’s how young I was: I hadn’t even learned how to read yet. I used to memorize the label on the record I liked - A&M, Dick Clark, Arista, Motown. Of course, lots of different artists shared common labels, so mistakes would be made. But they weren’t mistakes really, since they were all great songs. I remember thinking that Edwin Starr’s “25 Miles” was funny because he was talking to his feet. “Come on feet don’t fail me now. I got 10 more miles to go…”
When I hear Led Zeppelin, it’s all about my brothers for me. It’s Louis’ turntable that I wasn’t allowed to touch, but did. It’s Paul and I trying to hear the “backward masking” on “Stairway to Heaven.” It’s me, devouring the album covers, lyrics and liner notes.
It’s funny to think about the backward masking. Why would you want to listen to that music backward, when listening to it forward is so damn good? Funny how back then we had to search for controversy to some extent whereas now “artists” use words I won’t repeat here and “sing” about murder right up front. Last year an Oscar was awarded to the writer of a song entitled, “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp.”
Alleged devil worship hidden in the reverse of a song seems so innocent now.
As far as Zeppelin goes, “Stairway to Heaven” isn’t a favorite of mine. I’m all about the songs that really highlight Jimmy Page’s distinctive guitar riffs and John Bonham’s drumming genius - “Houses of the Holy,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” and “Rock and Roll” come to mind. Songs like “The Ocean”, “Fool in the Rain”, and “Dancing Days” get into your head and stay there. The sexiness of “D’Yer, Mak’er” makes a girl want give Robert Plant another chance.
Music and memory jump from past to present now as Led Zeppelin also reminds me of my friend Heidi’s husband, Chad. He’s a big Led Zep fan, although, like me, is a little too young to have gotten there on his own. I wonder where he first heard them. He also plays guitar though, so it stands to reason that he would be enamored with an old school guitarist like Page.
It’s funny when Heidi teases him and asks, “When is it going to end?” She didn’t know that this love affair that Chad has with Led Zeppelin was going to be a lifelong thing.
When it still holds up after all these years, why not?
And so dear reader, here's where you come in. Any memories you'd like to share? Any songs or artists you'd like me to write about? Let's hear it!
1 comments:
This will be part one of my memories attached to a song too, as I am also often taken on a trip down memory lane as I listen to music.
I'll start with 'True Colors' by either Cyndi Lauper, Phil Collins or whoever else might sing it.
It always makes me think of my cousin Sara, who is very dear to my heart as we share a blond closer than any other.
We live across the country from each other but we remain tightly woven together.
She has been through a lot, has hit a lot of lows and while I don't want to expose her life in an open forum (even though nobody will probably read this, except hopefully Joanne)she has battled and perservered, never giving in to the demons.
Through the worst of her trials and tribulations, she lost the respect and support of many relatives and friends, but I always tried my best to hold her up. She knew I was behind her.
She marches to the beat of her own drum, lives far from the norm in some areas of life and doesn't care what anybody thinks. But beneath her exrteme exterior is such a kind and loving heart that warms the soul. Many have not been willing to get past the outside and get to know the real person.
It's her true self that I see, not the problems she's had, but her heart.
The lyrics of 'True Colors' describes perfectly how I feel about her.
She got married last summer, and I made a video set to music with an assortment of pictures through her life. And the song was 'True Colors' and when the opening chord played she reached for my hand with a tear in her eye, because she knows the meaning behind the song.
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