Music From My Youth

I was young-in my teens bumping up against my early 20s. As a young boy/man I had never really been interested in music that much.

Oh sure, I knew all about Elvis Presley, The Beatles, etc. that I had heard on the radio or seen on TV like The Ed Sullivan show. But as far as actually purchasing LPs it was a no go...until.

It was the 1970s. I was in the 11^th grade attending my art class taught by Ms. Tichenor. She liked playing music as background noise. The kid loved it as her music tastes was similar to their own.

To me the music was nothing more than chatter. That is until one day.

She put on a new album by some guy named James Taylor. The first song up was Fire and Rain. I was hooked. I asked my teacher who it was and she told me his name.

At the time I was working at Pinch-A-Penny (much like a Walgreen’s or CVS) as a stock-boy. One of my jobs was to restock the LP section.

That day after school I went to work and immediately went to the record section. As luck would have it James Taylor’s album was there and I bought it.

That night I took it home and played on my little portable record player. I played the album over several times.

At school I started asking other students about similar albums and before long I bought Carol King’s Tapestry album and Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water LP.

Soon I was buying albums every week. I purchased Led Zeppelin, America, Loggins & Messina, Crosby, Stills and Nash, CSN&Y, Seals & Croft, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Traffic, The Moody Blues, Harry Chapin, Linda Ronstadt, David Bowie, Gordon Lightfoot, Alice Cooper, The Who, The Beatles-you get the drift.

Over the next few years I branched out to Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Carly Simon, Jim Croce, Cat Stevens, Melanie, Isaac Hayes, George Harrison, Don McLean, Jethro Tull, The Eagles, Billy Joel, The Doobie Brothers, The Allman Brothers, John Denver, Elton John, Creedence Clearwater Revival and so and so on. So many great groups, solo acts and albums.

I have many of the albums still.

Some may say I’m stuck in a time warp-listening to albums I loved as a teenager and as a young man. And they’d be right. So what? I enjoy them. I consider them the comfort food of music.

They remind me of simpler times, When music was raw and unfiltered and not altered by computers or cranked out with the same beat but with different words.

I’m sure there are still some talented musicians and singers out there-those that both write and play their songs-simple, clean and true. You know who they are.

They are artists, not showmen. They perform substance, not popular trends and gibberish. They captivate with a single guitar or piano-not synthesized music that is over-produced and congested.

Sure, you can call me old fashioned and an ancient grandpa that is out of touch and that’s OK. Make fun-have your laughs.  Just remember-one day you'll be my age-it's inevitable

In the meantime I’ll sit back and listen to some real music with substance, meaning and a message and that’s something you can never take away from me.

Romans 12:18 - If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.