There were lots of similarities. I think my record player was blue. The two “good” records that were mine were “Meet the Beatles” (which I listened to endlessly as the sun hugged closer to the horizon and the cicadas droned on and on in waves) and a Beach Boys “Surfin USA” which I again, marveled at the sad melancholy of “In My Room” contrasted with all the other peppy surf songs. The other two house albums that I snaked from my mother’s “collection” were Blood, Sweat and Tears first album (Spinnin’ Wheel) and the soundtrack to Hair (the 60’s version). The rest of my parent’s albums mostly included classical which I couldn’t wrap my head around at the age of five.
I had my own little weird collection of Batman records, the definitive Jungle Book soundtrack – which I admit I also had no idea I was listening to Louis Prima et al. I still remember the Vultures barbershop harmony on “We’re your friends”. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy covered “I Wanna Be Like You” a while back, and it was okay, but hard to beat the original.
In later years, we also graduated to a stereo with a record player, which we were told to take special care of – mainly because they didn’t want to buy another one. My dad would go to the library and check out tapes and records for us. I listened to a LOT of 50’s covers. Like the NOW CD’s, it would gather a huge amount of 50’s material onto one tape. I listened to those endlessly. After writing this I have to realize that I need to give my father (a civil engineer) a lot more credit for furthering my interest in music rather than my mother (an actual musician). I spent a lot of time listening to music thanks to him. Thanks Dad!
