Thursday, July 30, 2009

Your Monthly Mix-Tape

I don't know how you got into music*, but my parents introduced me. Whether it was my Mom playing Jim Croce or the Electric Light Orchestra while she cleaned the house, or my dad blaring Van Halen, Bob Seger, or Rush as we drove to and from baseball practices and games, the importance of music was forever underlined for me. Music was never just background noise. It was something to be talked about and thought about. It brought color and depth to life. Lyrics had meaning, and rock stars had little mythologies around them that needed to be deconstructed and talked about. Our tastes have diverged over time, but these songs still hold a special place in my heart.

This mix-tape is for my parents, and for the little boy I once was.

1. Mr. Blue Sky, by Electric Light Orchestra

2. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, by Jim Croce

3. Heresy,by Rush

4. Jamie's Cryin', by Van Halen

5. Her Strut, By Bob Seger

6.If This Is It (Live) , By Huey Lewis & The News

7.Come Sail Away, by Styx

8.My Generation, by The Who

9.Forever And Ever, Amen, by Randy Travis

10.Bicycle Race, by Queen

Have a great weekend!


*Is music 'gotten into'? Or is the capacity to love it hardwired into our brains like language, and the desire to eat, drink, sleep, and reproduce?

4 comments:

  1. did your parents have matching jean jackets at one point?

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  2. No. I just called my mom to make sure. She says they've both worn jean jackets before, but never exactly matching.

    Profiling is wrong Gbiz!

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  3. Jim Croce's death was my first introduction to the concept. Prior to that time (I must have been 6 or 7) no one I knew of or heard of had ever died. I knew that Leroy Brown song (there was a summer where everybody did) and liked it a lot. It was one of the first songs that actually had a video. I think they played it on The Sonny and Cher show. An animated cartoon that pretty much followed the narrative of the song. I remember my mom's shock when we got the news on the radio.

    "What happened to him mom?"

    "He died."

    "What's that?"

    But all I got for an answer was a heavy sigh.

    ReplyDelete