June 11, 2015- Music, Stuffed Animals, and Writing-Part 2

   Mom still has all of her records, even the Rosemary Clooney 78s. She doesn’t have her old record player that could play these though. I have my record player only it hasn’t been used in about 10 years. That stereo has been in mom’s room for even longer than that.

    I can’t believe that I used to like listening to her musical soundtracks- Gigi, Gypsy, Oklahoma, South Pacific, The Music Man, Bye- Bye Birdie, Jumbo, and The King and I. We watched these movies together too.

    I wish that I never got rid of all but 3 of my Beatles records. I’m kind of embarrassed about my McCartney crush. I did have a poster of him and a Beatles one on my wall during that late 80’s- early 90s phase. 

    I thought that one of our 8^th grade Communion Breakfast (pre-graduation) songs used Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” with our school name replacing “Rock and Roll”. When I recently looked in that booklet, I saw “Graduation” to the tune of Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” which I do remember. But there was also another called “Be Good Eighth Grade” to the tune of “Be Good Johnny” that I definitely don’t recall.

   Why had there even been 2 songs? The former says 1982 with words written by 4 of my classmates and the latter is 1983, with 5 names.  A couple of them sound familiar; they might have been the class of 1984. I am really confused about this.

   Mike mentioned that his class had “The Reflex”. Was it used for this same event or as the main song for his 8^th grade dance- Medieval Times theme? If it was the former, I wonder how they would have changed the words to fit graduation/grade school memories.

   I’m so bad at remembering song lyrics. I do know some Christmas carols still, I think. The songs that I remember most are the ones from my childhood and it’s not like I can recall many of the words. There’s Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane”, Lionel Richie’s “You Are”, Kenny Rogers- “The Gambler”, Wham! – “Careless Whispers”, and McCartney/Wonder-“Ebony and Ivory”.

 

                                                                 Rosemary Clooney

                                                                Rosemary Clooney

 

 

Musicals Mom and I like

I used to enjoy watching musicals with mom and also listening to her records of them. I don't really care for musicals anymore though. Maybe someday I'll be interested in them again. Our favourites were -

1. South Pacific

2. Oklahoma

3. The King and I

4. The Music Man

5. Bye, Bye Birdie - mom saw this on Broadway. Paul Lynde was in the cast.

6. Gypsy - mom would tell people that when I was a little girl that I danced around to one of the songs - how embarrassing.

7. Gigi

8. The Sound of Music

my music 2

Certain songs or albums bring back chilhood memories. My mom and I used to listen to her albums of musicals and watched the movies too. Gypsy, Bye Bye Birdie, Gigi, Oklahoma,South Pacific, The Sound of Music, The Music Man . I don't really like musicals anymore though. Mom said that when I was a little girl that I sometimes danced around to a song from Gypsy-how embarrasing- and also to the theme of I Dream of Jeannie.

I remember listening to Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down tape during the car ride to the mall with my cousin Mary and Gene David's girlfriend Sue. We were going to see the movie Star Trek 3 there. During the ride to upstate NY in the late 80's I had Mellencamp's Scarecrow on my walkman. Mark had his Styx tape Kilroy Was Here tape on during the drive back from AC. Dad asked "what is this?' Don't think that he cared for it. He's mostly into classical music. Not such positive memories of my high school prom themes because I didn't have a boyfriend and was set up with friends of a friend. Never Say Goodbye for senior and One More Night for junior.

Whenever I hear Billy Idol's Eyes Without a Face I think of Great Adventure because this was playing during one of the rides- I think it was called the Matterhorn. That was in the early 80's. My friends Suzy, Jenny and brother Mark were disco dancing to Donna Summer in the basement in the late 70's. It was fun until Suzy fell and hit her head on the coffee table. A Blondie record was playing at Kathy's birthday/slumber party. When I hear The Tide Is High I sometimes think of this. Karen brought her Off the Wall album to school one day. Cindy gave me John Cougar- American Fool as a secret santa gift. That's what got me into Mellencamp's music.

I remember my parent's being very upset when they heard on the radio that Elvis had died. Didn't know much about him then other than I enjoyed his Christmas album. I loved most of my parent's Christmas albums and still do. The classics are the best. Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, Dean Martin and others.

We could've seen Rosemary Clooney at the Regis and Kathie Lee show in the late 80's but mom was in the hospital and I was afraid to go into the city alone. That's a shame because she is mom's favourite girl singer. We did go to that show a few other times but I don't remember much about this- my brother remembers more than me. The day that mom and I went Phil Collins was there. We had 2 extra tickets and these 2 girls had driven from Ohio,I think. They were so greatful to us. He did a bit of In The Air Tonight on the drums. Mom took pictures of him for me. Petula Clark was a guest the day that Mark and I went. Mom was in the hospital again. The audience sang part of Downtown. My memory of the musical guests is fine. Mark said that Gary Coleman was there the time that Mom, Dad , Mark and I were there in the mid 80's. Dad made me get Regis' autograph even though I really didn't want it and he took a picture of me and Regis together. How embarrasing. Mom, Mark , our friend Stacey and her mom Barbara and I went there once. The only thing that I remember about that was that the producer Gelman made me move over a seat and I wouldv'e won the prize if I had been in that seat. Still mad about that. Mark said that the guest was Dom DeLouise and that Stacey was wishing it had been his son Peter because she liked 21 Jump Street. I guess that music is significant to me which is why that part sticks in my brain more than other things.

I still have the list of the top 95 songs from 1983 from WPLJ and hadn't looked at it for a very long time and got a kick out of it when I did. Two by my favourite group-Hungry Like the Wolf and Is There Something I Should Know. I don't even really remember them from before 1993. I do remember the one day on the playground in 82 or 83 when some of my classmates were talking about them and saying which one was their favourite and I was laughing on the inside and wondering why they wer going so ga ga over Duran Duran but now I can understand why and kind of wish that I had been into them back then too. I could go on and on about this topic but I'll save it for another day.