Our favorite of all is "I Love How You Love Me" by Bobby Vinton, as it has a special meaning for us.
But we're hearing Nat King Cole, Oliver, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Doris Day, Louis Armstrong, Patsy Cline, Connie Francis, The Righteous Brothers, Helen Reddy, Anne Murray, Andy Williams
And what we are hearing is ...can you believe it? ... words! Words enunciated, words that carry meaning, words that are unhurried. "We'll Sing in the Sunshine," "Ebb Tide," "As Time Goes By," "Love Letters in the Sand," "Where Do I Begin?"
"Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro. That'll tear your heart out.
"It's Impossible" by Perry Como.
Kenny Rogers and "She Believes in Me."
"Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific.
Patti Page and "The Tennesee Waltz."
Ed Ames singing "My Cup Runneth Over With Love."
"You Belong to Me, " Jo Stafford (Fly the ocean in a silver plane....")
Melissa Manchester, "Through the Eyes of Love."
Ed Ames singing "My Cup Runneth Over With Love."
"You Belong to Me, " Jo Stafford (Fly the ocean in a silver plane....")
Melissa Manchester, "Through the Eyes of Love."
Those were the days when a singer actually had to have a decent voice, when a song had to have a meaning. It wasn't good enough to cram a microphone into your mouth and mumble, or make angry noises. They made each word important, they made each word touch their listeners.
I could go on and on, but those of our readers who are, let's say "mature," will remember their own special music, their own favorite musicians. If you'd care to share your favorites, put in a comment! In the meantime, we're heading back to the bedroom! Our favorite place during ... Our Life on Wheels.
For some reason, I often think of Julie London's "Cry Me a River". I love cabaret music, and also the 50's R&B, before rock & roll came along.
ReplyDeleteAll those songs you mentioned, loved them all. I grew up listening to them. That's why I love XM radio, I just turn into the 50's and 40's stations and I'm in my glory.
ReplyDeleteWell, ya said it all very well Jerry & you are so right in everything you say in tonight's post. I have most, if not all those same songs in my music library here. Ebbtide either sung or instrumental is one of my all time favs. Both Frank Chaksfield & Earl Grant did excellent versions of that. Those were the days when writers knew how write, singers knew how to sing, producers knew how to produce & all the muscians had a mastery over their instruments. It is absolutely disgusting what has happened to much of today's music. We at this age can all be thankful that we grew up in the Golden Age of music we did because it is not likely to ever return again. Great post my friend:))
ReplyDeleteGreat memories and GREAT post!!!
ReplyDeleteLoved it
Have fun & Travel safe
Donna
Peter, Paul,and Mary; John Denver; Kenny Rogers, etc... Here's to understanding and getting into the words! Heading to the bedroom just means sleep for me now. :(
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, I want songs I can sing along to. The CDs I made to listen to while I'm driving - I know most of the words and can sing along to all of them. Songs bring back great memories!
ReplyDeletePhewey! You, Jerry, and a few of your 'commenteers' are once again stuck in 'things were better in the old days mythology'.
ReplyDeleteSome of those songs you quoted are enough to make a buzzard throw up - really! Honey by Bobby Goldsboro - I'm still wretching over that one.
Singers and music today are every bit as vibrant as when we were youngsters. Don't you remember how most of our parents hated rock 'n roll?
There is more talented singers today than at anytime in our history and online music (iTunes) has skyrocketed music popularity. No doubt, todays kids will look back in 50 years and say "boy, they just don't make music the way they used to right?" Whatever happened to the Lady Gaga's, Katy Perry's and Shania Twain's we all used to listen to?
I've thought of a few from the old days who didn't mumble and make angry noises into the microphone back then like Little Richard, Elvis, Fats Domino, The Big Bopper and that hiccupy guy Buddy Holly - pretty, pretty, pretty Peggy Sue!
However, if I had to pick a guy from the old days who had the best 'great' voice, didn't mumble into the mike and sang songs with great meaning, I'd have to go with Bob Dylan. But, with a voice like that, I know, the guy never had a chance of amounting to anything.
Whatever happened to old Bob, anyway!
Love all those tunes. And I was such a fan of Bobby Vinton!! Who can forget Pat Boone and "Love Letters in the Sand"? I love songs that have words and meaning and melody. This is one area where I have to say it was "The Good Old Days."
ReplyDeleteGreat songs. But golden oldies and IPOD in the same sentence just seems wrong:)
ReplyDeleteHi Jerry...... in re-reading my previous comment this morning after a good night's sleep, it seems a little 'harsher' than I thought at the time. I was trying to poke a little fun at all of us "old fogies" who don't 'get' the music that tens of millions of today's kid's seem to love. Even though I don't understand it, the music must have some appeal as my kids and grandkids love it too.
ReplyDeleteI still hold to the belief that there are just as many great singers and songs today as ever - probably more because of the Internet. Today, us older generation folk only remember the 'great oldies' not all of the really bad stuff that gets published in any music genre.
Just thought I'd better make my point clear so folks will throw me a few scraps of food while I'm down in the bear pit!! Just the price to pay for voicing opinions - love it!!!
We also like the oldies, however wish some of the newer music was to our liking.
ReplyDeleteI was waiting for an unique number to come up before I joined your follower list and when I saw 149 appear I jumped in and grabbed 150. LOL
To be honest, I did not care for most of the music of the 50s and 60s. Classical had just reached its heyday as far as recording technology and the complex big bands of the 40s really exploited that technology.
ReplyDeleteBut then, like today, technology stepped up the options and the "single" was born on 45s. That made recordings cheaper to produce and buy and much more portable. That made one hit wonders much easier to produce and market.... and share.
Simultaneously, the beat of wars really dumbed down the musical content and complexity until a new generation of musicians and audiences could outgrow the simple drumbeats and 3 chord melodies.
They say that the best way to remember things past is to have those memories get set in a time of a high adrenaline rush. Wars, Fathers gone to war or left in war along with the necessity of a working Mom and the breaking up of extended family values pretty much left the young to feel their own way through puberty and adolescence. That certainly makes for a rich setting of for adrenaline based memories and feelings.
I really believe that people "fondly" remember whatever happened when they were excited and happy. If they weren't, maybe they remember with less fondness and more an anxious edge. Maybe nostalgia lane is an auditory version of a perfume that triggers the feeling of another time and place and circumstance. For some, good feelings roll over them. For others, they just want to think about something else.
There were certainly composers, like Neil Sedaka, the Beatles, Roy Orbison, The Turtles, Neil Diamond, yes, Bob Dylan, and many more whose music grew up as they did and became more mature and complex in content and impression... and so did our tastes as we grew, too.
But great song, poor song or not, today, I am sure that when you hear certain songs from your young years, a fleeting image, feeling or even remembered smell passes through you and in that moment, you are the person you were then and for just long enough to sample a quick breath of that life... and that is not a bad thing.
BTW, Google now has a beta music service which let you upload your own copies of the music you like best.
ReplyDeleteWhatever you put up there (for free) is available to you via the internet as well as your cell phone and while it works much like ITunes, Pandora, Spotify or GrooveShark, it provides you with Your music delivered back to your listening devices like you want to hear it.
It is also a nice free backup of your tunes. At the present time, it will hold up to 20,000 songs of up to 250mb@.
They also have offline up loading capability to help you build your online library if you don't have a reasonably fast uplink connection.
Since it is still a beta application, you need to ask for an invite from Google Music from Here: http://music.google.com
Once you are in, you can send invites to 5 other people so it can continue to grow in numbers.
Enjoy
Thanks for the great reminder about so many of the great songs of the 1950s and 60s! I wasn't into music in the 50s, a little more so in the 60s, but I somehow I know almost all of the songs you mentioned. Who'd a thunk?
ReplyDeleteI believe there are great songs and poor songs in every decade. There is always a variety of artists and listeners and we can each choose what we want to listen to. You may like a certain artist but how often do you like every song on an album. There always seems to be some song(s) that you press the fast forward on. It's just a preference or an opinion type of thing. Doesn't mean you are right and another is wrong. It is just your preference. Turn it up or turn it down or turn it off.
ReplyDeleteCrazy Legs Al
One of my favorite folk groups were Ian and Sylvia, from Canada....can you believe that?
ReplyDeleteTheir song..."Four Strong Winds" was always one of my favorites.
I recently found some of their music on the internet and downloaded some so I can put it on my IPod and listen wherever.
Amazon has a thing they call their cloud server, where you can store all of your music and listen to it anywhere you might have internet access. Pretty cool.
Some classic tunes in there! I do love the way music fills my life with memories and feelings. It's a beautiful thing!
ReplyDeleteNina
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