Happiness and Moonshine: Musical memories

Today I was transported to another time in my life by the song Land Down Under by Men at Work. It was my first 'mature' record I received from my brother. I somehow think he actually bought it for himself.

Now I am going to do a little memory lane work just for fun regarding song memories from my past....here goes...

Convoy. My brothers could recite all of the words

Neil Diamond and John Denver...they'll always remind me of my parents and of 3352 Isherwood Way, Fremont, CA 94536 (I know my address still by heart and we left there in 1978). John Denver resurfaced in college as the penultimate crowd 'singing' moments at parties that took place in our house/dorm rooms.

Blinded by the light...I'm still not sure what the words are...I sang "repped up like a douche in the middle of the night"...what the?

Hearing and singing Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It" as we made it to our final destination from CA to RI in our VW poptop van. That song played as we crossed over the Providence Bridge in 1977.

Sesame Street record playing on my rickety record player in my room on Town Creek Drive (in Maryland) where I could recite Big Bird's song about the alphabet. He sang abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz as a word...try it!

Singing all of the words to my Annie record and believing I sounded just like Andrea McArdle

Listening to the White Album and being scared out of my mind. My dad had a reel to reel and he played that song backward that said "Paul is really dead"

Being a passive participant in my older brother's passion for all things classic rock (at least its considered classic now)...Beattles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Supertramp to name a few

Learning the poem on the back of the Moody Blues album cover. That is what a teenager does when there is no TV and her brothers are 4 and 5 years older. Breath deep the gathering gloom. Watch lights fade from every room. I think I still know most of the words.

Slow dancing to Open Arms with my first boyfriend Andy Redmond in my basement at my 14th birthday party. We played that one 45 over and over and over...yowza.

Listening to the ONE tape my parents had in their car tape player the summer between my two years in Iceland (circa 1985)...Best of Bread. If a picture paints a thousand words then why can't I paint you. My husband finds me quite odd when I can sing a Bread song if it HAPPENS to be on the radio...it solidifies his thoughts that I am truly a SQUARE individual.

My first concert was Spandau Ballet in Naples, Italy (or was it Rome?). Again, my husband thinks I'm square because his first concert was something like KISS...it is amazing we ended up together.

James Taylor concert with my brother and his then girlfriend (now wife) in Newport, RI. That weekend goes down in the books as one of the more fun and memorable weekends of my Freshman year...just plain old fun.

Grateful Dead songs played in "the boys" dorm rooms at Mary Washington College. My friend Amis and I were (or at least we believed we were) "one of the guys".

Seeing The Who at RFK stadium with my friend Ted (one of, if not THE last concerts they did).

Seeing Elton John in London with my husband where Elton was supposed to be co-performing with Billy Joel...BJ didn't show so Elton graciously did both his and BJ's sets...truly an amazing entertainer.

The James Brown's song that includes the words 'take it to the bridge..ha' . My husband and I have decided that that is our 'theme song'. (not because of its title "Sex Machine" though...just the groove)
Becoming an Ed Head by following the local band Eddie from Ohio in Arlington, VA. Becoming even more of a follower when my friend Dan was murdered because he was the one who introduced me to the band. Fast forward to a year ago when I was out until 2am hanging with the band members here in Seattle and we found that we had much in common both with my friend Dan's murder and my husband went to college with the lead female singer. My groupie status is no longer as strong, but I do hold a place in my heart for that band.

Seeing Carbon Leaf in Raleigh in a small bar with my friend Jules and being utterly convinced that the lead singer was singing directly to me...I think he was cute...but somehow the vision gets distorted when boys are band members...something about stage presence makes them way cuter than they are...take Kate Hudson and her now ex...notsocute. Fast forward to last Christmas when my siblings, their wives, my husband and I saw them at the Ramshead in Annapolis, MD...a good show.

Finally...this past year my brain cells have been bombarded with the same Hannah Montanna and other Disney "youth" songs (Jonas brothers, High School Musical etc). Will this music be what I remember when the Alzheimers kicks in? Oh Good God I HOPE NOT!