Why Did You Fall in Love With Music?

William Robert (Austin's own Will Matthews) asked, "What was the song, band, or singer that made you fall in love with music?"

It was probably my Mom. My earliest musical memories are of her singing me lullabies.

Close your sleepy eyes,
My little Buckaroo.
The light of the western skies
Is shining down on you.
You know it's time for bed,
Another day is through...
So go to sleep,
My little Buckaroo.

Don't you realize,
My little Buckaroo,
'twas from the acorn that
The mighty oak tree grew?
Remember that your dad
Was once a kid like you...
So go to sleep,
My little Buckaroo.

The other early song I remember is this:

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,
Here comes my wagon, my wagon,
The men in the white coats are after me!
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,
Here comes my wagon, my wagon,
To take me to the funny factory.

Just like the nuts that fall,
I'm a little cracked that's all.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,
Here comes my wagon, my wagon,
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,
Here comes my wagon!

These are not the official lyrics, but they are what I remember... and since Mom is not here to correct me, they are correct.)

Other than that I just remember growing up with music; it was always an integral part of my life. I can't remember a time without it. Our house and car were usually full of music. Dad played piano, Mom sang, and records or the radio were at least as likely to be on as the TV. Most of us kids ended up in band, chorus, or taking lessons. (I played trombone and guitar.)

Some of my major, musical memories in my early years include:

• Firestone and Goodyear Christmas albums
• A boxed set of western (mostly cowboy) songs such as "Ghost Riders (in the Sky)", "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds", "Streets of Laredo", etc.
• Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire": I first heard this at the age of 7. It was spring or early summer; we were on our way to church. I wanted my parents to turn it off. "We can't listen to a song about Hell on Sunday, going to church!" They laughed so hard dad almost had to pull over.
• Around 4th or 5th grade I got my first 45 (a small record with one song on each side) as a prize at a YMCA fair. It was Jill Corey singing "Let it Be Me" and "Make Like a Bunny, Honey". At that age, I played the rabbity side a lot more.
• Musical sound tracks to movies my parents went to see. I knew every song from movies like My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music. When I finally saw these movies decades later it was like being reunited with childhood best friends.
• The New Christy Minstrels
• Gilbert and Sullivan. 'Nuff said.
• The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. I don't really remember the show but I remember being enthralled.
• Theme songs to shows like The Lucy Show, The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, and of course Secret Agent. I can still sing, or at least hum or whistle, a crazy number of these. "My heart would be a fireball (a fireball), a fireball (a fireball) every time I look into your starry eyes."
• In the summer of 1966, Mom's sister Betty Chappelle and her family visited for a week. My cousin Steve played the "Secret Agent Man" song (expanded from the TV show theme) from pretty much breakfast time til the news came on (when our parents would forcibly turn off the stereo), playing guitar and singing along. Dad swore he wore out the new diamond needle on the phonograph. This song has been part of m,y life's soundtrack since.
• The Monkees! Between the music and the shows, these guys had a huge impact on my life. My friend Claude Thompson taught me to dance to their songs so I could go to my first sock hop. I fell in love with "Last Train to Clarksville" imagining a dance with Debbie Jones.
• My parents bought a small house by ours (to rent out) that was full of thousands of books and records. I ended up with dozens and dozens of Motown singles and fell in love with the Motown Sound.
• One of my sisters-- probably Kathleen-- gave me a single of Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" ("The Laird" graced the B side). I wore it out.
• Eric Clapton, Alice Cooper (Killer), the Smothers Brothers... I remember listening to albums by these three back to back.

There's a smattering of what I grew up with. I still listen to almost anything besides opera. There are a few genres I can't listen to much of (rap, hip hop, Gnashville country, Coldplay), but if there's music, I'll give it a try.

What songs, artists / bands, or writers / composers influenced you? Why did you fall in love with music?

Quick Thought: Love of Learning

Someone posted a quote on Facebook:

If you are not willing to learn,
no one can help you.
If you are determined to learn,
no one can stop tou.

I completely agree. But there is a huge related discussion; I put it like this:

If the schools spent half the time helping kids learn and cultivating their innate love of learning instead of teaching to tests and beating that love out of them, we would have far less illiteracy and a far more productive (and happier) country.

Thankfully my parents fostered a love of learning in me that even bad schooling could not destroy. On the other hand, most of my teachers were good, the curriculum was decent to good, and the schools I attended gave the teachers a lot of leeway. We spent very little time on standardized curricula or tests.

Given what they have to deal with, I'm not surprised that so many kids today don't care about school. I realize there are far more societal problems involved, but in many ways today's schools are their own worst enemies.

As for me? Can't stop, won't stop... learning.

(Thanks, Eliezer Adrian Adame, for the inspiration!).

 

Copyright 2014 Triple R Publishing, Round Rock, TX. Feel free to quote so long as attribution is made. All other rights reserved.

Fall Out Of... the Gap

Once upon a time, there were no jean stores that carried a cool selection of jeans. The GAP was born to remedy that gaping hole in the cultural landscape of the early 1970s. They carried the cool stuff from manufacturers big and small, even some nobody ever heard of at the time. Their prices were decent. They had some of the coolest commercials, using one of the coolest avant garde voices on radio: Dick Orkin, the guy who did "Chickenman" and "The Adventures of the Tooth Fairy", five minute radio comedies that were far more worth the time to listen than 97% of all TV comedies ever.

They carried other stuff, too-- shirts, coats, a limited but excellent selection of belts, jewelry, hats, and anything else your little hippie heart could desire.

Somewhere in there the gap faded off my radar. I didn't even know they were still around. At some point they made a half hearted attempt to woo me back with the familiar sounding "Fall... in...to... the GAP!" commercials. They got my attention, but somehow sounded lackluster and contrived. I ignored them a while longer.

Now the GAP carries mediocre, mass market, store brand crap. It's pricey as if they were designer jeans. It's become a horrible parody of itself. I don't recall the last time I heard Orkin's voice; I can't remember if they used him for the more recent commercials or not. It hasn't been that long since I was in a GAP store, though. I'm kind of glad I have no modern association between Orkin and the GAP. Blech.

Almost everything in there (at least in jeans) was GAP brand. The fit was atrocious. Their girl & woman jeans are coming to be known as Mom Jeans, the kiss of death for cool. Their mens jeans were hideous. I bought a blue jean jacket that was OK. Not great. It's starting to tear up, not lasting as long as a well made Levis or Wranglers would. Designer jean quality (fair) and prices (horrid) without the looks or fit.

No thanks.

(Thanks to Kayla Lankford for inspiring me to get this out of my system.

 

Copyright 2014 Triple R Publishing, Round Rock, TX. Feel free to quote so long as attribution is made. All other rights reserved.