My Musical Evolution – Part 9 Diving Into Mom’s Records

As I mentioned previously, The Scratchy 45 Days were powered by my adoring mother’s extensive collection of 45 rpm singles taken from top 40 style AM radio. What I’m struggling with now is how to represent all that music in a cohesive yet entertaining and educational manner. Here are a couple of thoughts. I could simply play DJ for you and line up each post with a stack of 7 songs and interject a comment here or there when it seems appropriate to me. I could try to focus on the artists represented and line up several songs from each with comments as I think of things. I’m not too sure so the next few posts will be somewhat experimental. It will probably be a combination of those two approaches. Mom had a few albums but mostly it was 1 – 4 records per artist. I can’t see me devoting an entire post to The Starland Vocal Band even though Afternoon Delight is attached to some great memories for me.

I think this time we’ll just set the old record player up with a stack of 7. Keep in mind that I’m disregarding release dates and not trying to recreate a particular year. I’m just pulling record’s out of mom’s collection that she started before I was born and that we enjoyed until the late 1970’s. Don’t judge, just enjoy.

Up first and completely at random. Eric Clapton – I Shot The Sheriff

I never really got too much into Clapton. Mom had this song but it would take me all the way until his Unplugged performance before I’d go back and get more.

Next we have some early Bee Gees – How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

There were only a couple Bee Gees records in the pile. It was when I was in middle school that the Bee Gees did Saturday Night Fever and really exploded.

How about some Dionne Warwick – Do You Know The Way To San Jose

Are you noticing the variety in styles. Sure, they were all mainstream pop music songs. Mom didn’t have any Pink Floyd, I’d have to find them later with help from my friends.

Keep in mind that these were records that my mother had been collecting for a while and we were just spinning them and having a great time. Here’s Climax – Precious And Few

Precious and Few would eventually get linked to a girl in the 1980’s but that’s another story.

The Hits just keep coming! I used to really like this one for some reason. There is something about a sad song. The Poppy Family – That’s Where I Went Wrong

For the most part, I’ve been a lyrics last music appreciator. I really enjoy the music parts and the beat. sometimes I don’t’ even pay attention to what they are saying. Maybe that is what pushes me toward a lot of instrumental stuff. I don’t have to be bothered with lyrics. There are times though the words mean everything. I’ll try to point some of those out when we run across them.

I’m not sure who is making these videos, I just hope you are enjoying the music. Do you remember Badfinger – Day After Day

That opening guitar part was a favorite of mine back then. It still sounds good today. It is hard to fathom that these songs are all around 40 years old. Do you remember them on the radio?

Well we have room on the stack for one more. Let’s wrap up with John Lennon – Imagine

Imagine is a great song and I really enjoy listening to it and playing along on my bass. I’m just a little troubled by the lyrics. It seems easy for a man who has everything to tell the rest of us to imagine no possessions. Still it was a shame he had to die that way. I would eventually get not only his CDs but some of his son’s too. You’ll see.

So what do you think so far. Mom had some pretty great records. I feel very fortunate to have had access to all this music. some of it was truly great stuff. Some of it was fluff. All them bring back emotions and memories of being a kid in the 1970’s.

Unlike those Disney records, it isn’t too hard to find these songs on CD. I got my first CD Player in late 1985. I’ll tell you more about that later. I’ve invested time and money in collecting all these great songs on CD. The Super Hits Of The 70’s – Have A Nice Day collection of 25 CDs were a good place to start. A lot of mom’s old 45s can be found in that collection. Maybe I’ll start adding links to where you can find them.