As I sit here and write this post I’m tapping my toe to The Monkees, “Last Train to Clarksville”. Before that it was Neil Diamond and “I Am.. I Said”. These are songs from my early youth that never fail to make me feel good. Songs that once upon a time I listened to on my record player, complete with the pops and scratches of vinyl.
As a child I can remember discovering my mother’s stash of 45 rpm singles and listening to the Everly Brothers crooning “Cathy’s Clown” and Connie Francis’ “Where the Boys Are”. My classmates thought I was crazy listening to ‘that old stuff’, but my Mom would always smile and sing along with me. In music we had a common bond.
Mom, like me, was a true music lover and found that she liked ‘my’ music as I hit my teens and started listening to the likes of Rush and Aerosmith. And then I went through my country phase and introduced her to Alabama and George Strait. We even attended a few concerts together.
Now I see my mother in me, as I find enjoyment both in the music of today and in the music of yesterday. I’ve attended concerts with my children (The White Stripes for one) and my son is an avid Rush and The Who fan. My daughter is going through that country phase and just introduced me to the Zac Brown Band–think ‘Chicken Fried’. It’s not a myth that music brings generations together.
Regardless of what ‘generation’ of music I find myself listening to , my day would be much less productive without it playing in the background as I work. But I will admit that every once in awhile I’ll stumble across songs from my past that for just a few minutes seem to transport me back in time. Like now…Bruce Springsteen is singing “Born to Run” and I’m on the back of a motorcycle just for a few minutes until the last notes of the song fade away…
And what about you? Do you have songs that bring back memories? We’d love to have you share them with us. Leave us a comment or write about it in the Boomer Voices section.
