Music Lives

This is not a Michael Jackson memoir, nor is it a remembrance of any particular group. But it is a statement about memories.

I am at the age where I can say, “Back in my day…” or “Back in THE day…” I can really talk out of experience about having to walk to school through snow in the coldest of winters, or not having air conditioning in the summer. Heck I could even talk with pride about not having a dial telephone, a computer, a TV, or even flush toilets!

My generation (baby boomers) had some real musicians in it: Sinatra, Martin, Cole, Armstrong, Ross, and even Barry Manilow to name just a few. We actually listened to the music these people made, had no trouble understanding the lyrics, and even can recall most of the tunes even now. These people made music.

When Chuck Berry, the Big Bopper, Little Richard, Elvis, and the Beatles came on the scene, we had no trouble being inspired by them. The radio waves filled the air with the sound of harmonies and well thought out songs which had an impact on society and awakened people to the problems it faced. They also spurred our hearts to fall in love.

We had sock-hops at lunch time during junior high. All the kids raced back to gym, threw off our shoes and we went out on the gym floor and mingled and danced until it was time to go back to class. Couples had “their song,” usually a slow song where they would hold each other close and shuffle around the gym in the full view of everyone else because the lights in the gym were on. Many a relationship was born at those sockhops, and many egos were bruised by rejection.

In high school, we had weekly dances out at the pavilion in McFerren Park. The Shades of Blue, Shadows of Night, the One-Eyed Jacks, and a new band from Champaign called REO Speedwagon played regularly for us. The sound became big, but the songs were memorable and still allowed us to sing along with melodies that moved us. All we needed was a beat to “free our soul.” The music spoke to us about war, our lives, loves, hopes and, in some cases, our failures. Badfinger, Hall and Oates, Steely Dan, Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Credence Clearwater Revival, and other groups were musicians who raised our social consciousness

When I listen to today’s music, I have a little difficulty. For one thing, I cannot understand most of the lyrics. New songs do not speak to me. When I ask youngsters to explain the song to me and what it means, they have difficulty enumerating the theme and idea of the music. I get rap…I don’t understand most of it, but I get it. Pop songs are the ones that floor me. Maybe I don’t listen well, but is seems like there is more screaming than singing. Where is the rise and fall of emotion we heard from Bing, or Natalie Cole and her father? Where is the build, the crescendo?
Will kids remember the song they were listening to when the planes crashed into the towers, like I remember the song on the radio when President Kennedy’s death was announced? (Dominique by the Singing Nun). For them, what will be the “Day the Music Died?”

Crosby, Still, Nash and Young recorded a song called “Teach your children” that pretty much tells us that we must pass things on. Our love for music, the world, and each other. We will reap what we sow. I put a link at the end, so you can go to it and read the lyrics.

Have a great day, and remember, your yesterday can help determine your offspring’s tomorrow. Sing a little each day. Teach your children, well.

Doughnut

http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/c/crosbystillsnashyoung6061/teachyourchildren237794.html