Music and Memories

I Love honest open smiles
Kisses from a child
Tomatoes on the vine, and onions
I Love winner's when they cry
Loser's when they try
Music when it's good, and life
And I love you too.

,,,,Tom T. Hall, "I Love".

I have muddled and mixed memories of my childhood but I can remember always having a love for music. I listen mostly to oldies stations and classic rock in my truck when I'm driving and occasionally a song will come on and bring a memory.

I can remember sitting in a the little Dairy Bar in the tiny town of 300 where I spent several of my "growing up" years and putting a few dimes in the jukebox so I could hear "96 Tears" over and over again. I think I was around 10 or 11 then.

In the summer of 1968, as I was making plans to go to England to live with my father for 3 years, I remember hearing a song by Mary Hopkins that I loved the first time I heard it, "Those Were The Days". That hot summer day, listening to the radio as I tried to pack my suitcase for the 25th time, is a memory that goes with that song.

During my stay with my father and stepmom the Viet Nam War was raging and every time I think of Viet Nam now I think of Creedance Clearwater Revival and

Looking Out My Back Door
There's A Bad Moon Arising
Stuck in Lodi
Proud Mary
Who'll Stop The Rain
Green River

"The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" brings memories of going to Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire with my friend, Susan, to watch bubblegum westerns starring Clint Eastwood (who I had such a crush on). I also think of Susan every time I hear the Bee Gees because she had every one of their records (she had such a big crush on Barry).

Kenny Roger's song, "Lucille", brings to mind Joel who was another American who lived in our little village in England that I became friends with. He asked me out every single day for a year and every single day I told him no because he was a year younger than I was.

"Joy To The World" by Three Dog Night has it's place in my memories too since it played on the radio in James's '68 Chevy as I was introduced to the dating practices of pure country rednecks. I bet we over to Helena to drag Cherry Street a thousand times in the months before we married.

I love songs that bring memories.