Playlist for My Life

I'm turning 65 in a couple of weeks. Signing up for Medicare and the prospect of retirement have made me look back at my life, and the accidental fact that I have recently subscribed to Sirius XM has made me very nostalgic--because music has always done that for me. My brother and I had lunch one day this summer, when I had Sirius on trial, and I asked him which stations he liked to listen to. We had a great conversation about songs we remembered from our shared childhood, especially the Motown classics that always make us think of summers past. That conversation was the inspiration for this blog post.

I have mentioned before how many of my passions were inspired by my grandmother, but this one definitely came from my dad. My dad loved to dance, and it was an activity he enjoyed until the very last day of his life.

Dance Club at Webster High School 1946--
Daddy is at the top of the right circle, his twin brother Mack to his left

Daddy grew up at a remarkable time and place, dancing western swing at the historic Cain's and Cimarron Ballrooms in Tulsa. Daddy wasn't a great fan of country music in general, but he loved the musicianship of Johnnie Lee Wills and his band, and I remember him singing Hank Williams songs around the house. In high school I was one of only two members of my class who could sing all the verses of "Hey, Good Lookin'." (Jimmy's dad was a western swing dancer, too.)  

I can't remember a time that I didn't love music, and I feel so grateful to have lived at a time when some of the greatest songs ever were being recorded. My growth in music appreciation parallels the changes in music taking place during my early years. Those swing music staples from the 40's and 50's--I was born in 1953--became the rockabilly of the 1950's, then the rock 'n roll of the 1960's and 70's. At the same time rhythm and blues gave birth to the soul music that was such an influence on the British groups that hit America in the 1960's, just when I was old enough to really appreciate them.  

I have a lot of memories tied to songs.

• Playing "Ghost Riders in the Sky" on the jukebox at Martin's Barbecue, one of my dad's favorite places to eat
• Playing a 45 of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" on a little record player on the porch of the house on 38th Street
• Singing "The Name Game" on a school bus going on a field trip
• Dancing to "Woolly Bully" at Teen Town at Reed Park and to "House of the Rising Sun" at a Rainbow-Demolay dance at the Red Fork Masonic Hall
• Singing "The 59th St. Bridge Song" and dancing around a lamppost ("Hello, lamppost, what'cha knowin'") with friends outside the Convention Center in downtown Tulsa while waiting for parents to pick us up from a concert
• Playing "Strawberry Fields Forever" backwards at a slumber party at my friend Jane's so we could claim to hear "Paul is dead" 
• Listening to Credence Clearwater Revival and Three Dog Night on the radio while shopping for a Christmas tree for Webster High School with the other Student Council kids
• Listening to Sly and the Family Stone on the radio while driving from the University of Tulsa to my part-time job at the Philtower Building in downtown Tulsa

But the ones that go on my playlist are the ones that I hear that take me back vividly to a specific time and place. I can't hear the song without the memory.

• I can't hear "Walk On By" by Dionne Warwick without thinking about softball games at the Westside YMCA in the summer between 5th and 6th grade. The memory is complete with the feeling of the grass under me, the whack of bats on balls, and the transistor radio in my hand.

• "Come Together" by the Beatles, recorded in 1969--my junior year in high school--takes me straight back to the Pizza Hut on Southwest Boulevard--the smell of pizza baking and the music from the jukebox rising over the noise of the post-game crowd.

• "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart was the song of the summer of 1971, the summer after I graduated high school and before I started college. When I hear it, I am transported to a car, sitting next to my then-boyfriend (later husband, later ex), cruising the back road to his grandmother's house, holding a cold Dr. Pepper in a glass bottle in my hand.

• "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers takes me to the most exotic location--a "hooch" in Uijongbu, South Korea, in 1974, listening to Armed Forces Radio. I can almost smell the smells that define that time and place for me--burning charcoal and toasting sesame.

• I was cruising channels on Sirius the other day and heard the melody of a familiar song, "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" by the Allman Brothers.  It's hard to listen to--along with "Ramblin' Man"--because those were the songs we played at my second husband's funeral.  Price told me that hearing the Allman Brothers for the first time was a life-altering experience for him, so it seemed only natural to let their music play him out of this life. Every time I hear "Ramblin' Man," it takes me right back to his funeral.

What songs take you to a particular time and place? What songs make up the playlist of your life?