1971

[maeve66]

Last night I benefitted by the offices of friends sending me tracks they had, and also spent a few dollars at iTunes. Though actually, I already had quite a few of these. I made a playlist of songs I remember liking intensely when I was five, from AM radio. They weren't songs my parents had on LPs... My parents didn't have a lot of records and what I remember that they had at that point was: Jim Croce, Jean Redpath, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, the Kingston Trio, the Weavers, Gordon Lightfoot, Judy Collins, and Woody Guthrie...

Anyway -- the music I heard on the radio, and at friends' houses (well, really, at Wendy's house and at Fawn's house) and liked was the following:

"Rose Garden" by Lynn Anderson
"Black & White" by Three Dog Night
"One Tin Soldier" by Jinx and the Coven
"Top of the World" by the Carpenters
"A. B. C." by the Jackson Five
"Windy" by The Association
"Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night, and
"American Pie" by Don McLean

I can remember learning the words of those songs and singing them to myself walking from kindergarten to my after school program at WilMar. I remember singing along to 45s, with Wendy -- she had "Black & White" and "One Tin Soldier", I know, as we played with her mother's vintage Barbie dolls. I knew lots of political folk songs -- the first song I ever learned how to sing was "Solidarity Forever", and its original, "John Brown's Body" -- but there was something about these sappy mainstays of AM radio that really captivated me. They almost inevitably make me happy now, when I listen to them. I am particularly fond of "Top of the World" and "Black & White" and "American Pie".

Last night, as a nightcap after searching for the songs I didn't have, and listening to my mix, I found myself lost in the endless currents of YouTube, watching pretty much every parody Weird Al Yankovic has done in the past ten years. I was very out of date. His hilarious remake of "American Pie" as a retelling of episode 1 of Star Wars made my night. God, he's talented. There was also a good one called "Trapped in the Drive Through" which was parodying a song I could ALMOST figure out, but not quite. It went on and on tunelessly and hilariously.

Comments

[on-se-dit-tu.livejournal.com]

"John Brown's Body" is one of those Appalachian folk songs.

I like "American Pie" a lot.

I do this sort of thing, too, except it's the late 70's and early 80's due to the fact that I wasn't born until '77.

John Brown...

[maeve66.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia says the tune can be traced to mid 19th c. camp meetings, but the lyrics evolved among different Union troops during the Civil War song, which is revolutionary enough, really, and then the tune was picked up for the union/socialist anthem, "Solidarity Forever".

What are your late 70s and early 80s songs?

Re: John Brown...

[on-se-dit-tu.livejournal.com]

I like "Sail On" by the Commodores, and "September" and "After the Love Is Gone" by Earth, Wind, and Fire, and "Cool Night" by Paul Davis. I think my grandmother listened to the adult contemporary station a bunch when I was a small child!

I also love early 80's New Wave, but I think that might be a combination of childhood memories mixed with my more adolescent and adult taste in music. I remember liking songs like "Burning Down the House" and "Voices Carry" as a child, but I know I went back and really discovered the Cure and Joy Division, etc. at an older age.

Ah!! R. Kelly's wacky "Trapped in the Closet"!

[maeve66.livejournal.com]

That's what that cartoon is a parody of. The original was already hilarious enough... M. made me watch several "episodes" of R. Kelly's long saga of adultery and closet hiding. Oh, so funny. And the song is funny. But Weird Al's parody is even funnier and just as melodic.