The sound track of my life

Since this is my blog, I guess I can write about whatever I want.  And today it's not about art, it's about music, sort of.  The idea for this post came while on a walk on the nearby bike trail and the adjacent neighborhood.  So, since I don't like to write a post without images, the photos in this post were all taken on that walk.  (By the way, can anyone tell me what the heck this plant is, in the 2 photos below?)

It all started when the sun suddenly came out brightly, and I found myself humming the Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun".  And then James Taylor's "Sunny Skies Sleeps in the Morning".  And Jonathan Edward's "Sunshine (Go Away Today)".  And it got me thinking about how I always associate weather with songs, and I found myself writing this post in my head as I walked.  (How many rain songs can you name?  There are many!)

Plus my personal memories are often associated with a particular song.  I will hear a song on the radio, and suddenly I am transported to an event in my life that took place 50 years ago,when that song happened to be playing!  Instant association.  Happens all the time!  I an put myself back in my childhood best friend's bedroom, listening to the Kingston Trio sing about lemon trees and talking about cute boys, or in another friend's basement playroom, jumping from couch to couch as we belted out the lyrics to "That's Amore!" along the song on the radio.  Makes me smile.  

 Meanwhile, still walking, I saw the purple flowers and red berries in the photo below, and found myself singing "Wooden Ships" (recorded by both Crosby Stills & Nash and Jefferson Airplane) - the lyrics refer to eating purple berries for 6 or 7 weeks, and I guess somehow my brain made the purple and berry connection.

I do this song-association thing constantly.  When I'm in the car with my husband, and we drive past the nearby Schroon River, I'm instantly belting out "Moon River" (but subbing Schroon for Moon, of course).  Or "We'll be Coming Round the Mountain" when we are, obviously, driving around a mountain.  And so on.  My husband has learned to cope...  Just smiles and keeps driving. 

This is all pretty ironic.  Because while I love music, and seem to constantly have a song or rhythm going on in my head, I'm not actually very musical.  I tried my hand at musical instruments, but learning to read music was like learning to read French.  I couldn't ever make it an automatic thing.  But there was always music in my home, and I recall singing while we washed the dishes.

My son is very musical.  He is now an adult, in the professional world, but continues to play in a band (The Functionals) with longtime friends and and band-mates from both high school and college.  Here they are below at a recent gig.  They are raucous, and loud.  My son is the skinny bass player on the left.  I could attach an audio clip, but I don't want to blow out your eardrums.  Use the link above to hear some hard-driving rock and roll.

Now back to the irony.  I sadly do not have a good singing voice.  I first was told my voice wasn't good when I wasn't put in the elementary school chorus.  My mother made an apron for the music teacher, and suddenly I was in the chorus after all.  Bribery!  But there's something mighty suspicious about this whole thing.  First of all, have you ever heard of ANYONE being excluded from elementary chorus??  Really?  My voice is not THAT bad!  Plus, my mother would constantly be knitting, crocheting, and needlepointing, but I do not EVER recall seeing her sew.  Not ever. But yet, she reminded me about the apron many times over the years, when she felt the need to cut me down a notch or two.  I wonder what the true story really was.  I'll never know...

Anyhow, nowadays the Beatles play prominently in my personal soundtrack.  When I'm kayaking across the lake, and a strong wind pops up and I need to turn up the power, I sing Beatles songs at the top of my lungs while I paddle.  Is there anyone who doesn't know the lyrics to every Beatles song?    Or when I look in the water while I'm paddling, and see clouds reflected, I find myself singing Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" (the line about "clouds in my coffee").  Every time.  Seriously.  Which is weird because the lake does not look like coffee, and I never drink coffee anyhow.

But there's one part of my personal soundtrack that makes me sad, that perhaps I was an inadequate mother.  Many of the songs I sing (around the house, and in the car with hubby) are old traditional songs, like "Oh My Darling, Clementine", or "Red River Valley".  Or songs my mother taught me, like an old Pepsi Cola ad ("Pepsi Cola hits the spot; 12 full ounces, that's a lot.  Twice as much for a nickel, too; Pepsi Cola is the drink for you!")

Or "See-Saw, Marjorie Daw" (what does that mean, anyhow?).  And I realize that my son  knows none of them.  Or the singsong rhymes of my childhood, or word association songs my mom taught me.  They will all be gone with me.  It definitely saddens me.

How did I let this happen?  I sang to my son when he was little, but somewhere along the way I must have stopped (or been told to stop, perhaps?).  Anyhow, I'm quite sure my son wouldn't know "On Top of Old Smoky" or even the Beatles' beautiful and tender "I Will",  though I sung it to him constantly as an infant (usually followed by "When I'm 64", with the lyrics"Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?").

Do you have a personal soundtrack that lives inside you? Do you, like me, tap out rhythms with your toes inside your shoes when you are waiting at the doctor's office perhaps?  Do you hum music to yourself when you are alone?  Sing along with the radio in the car?  Or is your soundtrack pumped in constantly through headphones?  I wonder if this connection to music and rhythm, and making musical associations to anything and everything has something to do with creativity and being artistic. 

Renovation Playlist - a happy soundtrack

What do you listen to while you're working on projects at home? This past week I've been doing a lot of painting, on the walls of my future studio space.  When my husband works on it (painting the ceiling, for example) he works in quiet.  But I like some audio company, and I used my iPad to provide that.

On the days it was rainy or gloomy out, I spent hours painting walls and trim while listening to podcasts of Radiolab via my public radio station.  If you've never listened to Radiolab, you should definitely check it out.  Each show is an hour of really unique programming with stories, science, sound, and information, and you will learn something new each time and the hour will be over before you know it.

The next couple of days I listened to an eclectic mix of music albums on th iPad:

Van Morrison (Moondance) - I have listened to this album thousands of times over the decades, and I never tire of it.

• The Lumineers - just makes me happy, ya know?
• Dear Creek (Puritans and Pioneers) - this folksy east coast band are friends of my son!
• The Gaslight Anthem (the '59 Sound) - more great music introduced to me by my son!
• Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend) - happy music!  I feel like I should be on a tropical beach,cocktail in hand! 
• The Beatles (Abbey Road) - Here Comes the Sun! Music to sing along with!
• Squirrel Nut Zippers (The Inevitable) - again, thanks to my son for giving me this music; how to describe it... jazzy, swingy, fun, and funky.  Dance while you paint!
• A Walk on the Moon (movie soundtrack) - the story of this movie is around the time of the Woodstock Festival in 1069, and the sound track includes wonders like Janis Joplin singing Summertime, Joni Mitchell's Cactus Tree, Grateful Dead's Ripple, and  also the Jefferson Airplane, Judy Collins, Richie Havens and so much more.  Every song is a gem.

Throw in a little Avett Brothers, some Mumford & Sons, and the Searching for Sugarman soundtrack (Sixto Rodriguez), and the time just flies!  

As I was painting and listening, I couldn't help but think that the music I had selected was often music that would play well in the classroom, with a little pre-editing for the occasional inappropriate lyric.  A classroom of kids listening to Vampire Weekend or Squirrel Nut Zippers, or the Beatles 'Here Comes the Sun' couldn't help but be happy!

By the way, the wall painting is done, and the floor replacement is next, but we will be in Maine for a few days so be patient - eventually you will see the entire room transformation from a teenage boy room into an airy and colorful art studio!  (I hope!)

Celebrity crushes and music on vinyl

During a quiet moment at our lakeside cabin this weekend, when the crowds had cleared and the charcoal was glowing embers, my son went inside and put on a couple of records. RECORDS, you say? YES! On Saturday nights at the cabin, we tun to our favorite programming on North Country Public Radio, starting with A Prairie Home Companion, then Riverwalk Jazz, and then even more wonderful jazz into the night. But on other nights, it's fun to dig into my old vinyl collection that goes back to my childhood. It's arranged alphabetically, and goes from A & B (Joan Armatrading & Jackson Browne) to Y & Z (Neil Young & Warren Zevon) and contains treasures including the likes of Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, Van Morrison, and many more.

My son is a music lover, and enjoys exploring the collection. For his first pick, he selected The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers, which brought me back to my college days. We would go a popular bar in town, where you'd pay $1 to get in, and get tickets for 4 draft beers (the drinking age then was 18). Late into the night there, we'd dance to Eric Clapton (Layla), Don McClean (American Pie), old Beatles music, and especially the Stones.

For my son's second pick, he surprised me and put on my oldest record, pictured at the top of this post. Oh my! My very first celebrity crush! I broke into a huge smile as the music started to play, because in my preteen days, when music's British Invasion hit the USA, I was madly smitten wit the adorable Peter Noone, the lead singer of Herman's Hermits. The music is still catchy to hear today. Looking at his photo now, I think Peter Noone had a little of the same type of look as Justin Bieber, which helps to explain why some of my female preteen students like him so much.

In my younger days, my crushes were usually different from those of my friends. During Beatlemania, when everyone else went nuts over Paul McCartney, the "cute" Beatle, I secretly adored the darkly mysterious Beatle, George Harrison. I think it was the eyes.

Then, in high school, I had an unusual crush: the talk show host Dick Cavett. He had gone to Yale and I was very impressed. He was smart, cute, and had a sense of humor with an 'edge', and I loved listening to his voice.

Then of course there was Sweet Baby James (which is in my vinyl collection) James Taylor. Those eyes! And a rock icon with intense eyes: Jim Morrison (The Doors) also in my vinyl collection.

And the 'Z' in my alphabetical record collection, Warren Zevon, reminded me of a boy I dated for a bit in college, and I liked his music too, so I guess he gets on my oddball 'crush' list.

Then there's vampires - long before it was 'cool' to love vampires, I had a bit of a crush on Brad Pitt as the vampire Louis in Interview with a Vampire. I admit I liked the long hair. And more recently, I had a HUGE crush on Alex O'Loughlin as the conflicted vampire/private eye Mick St. John in the terrific TV series Moonlight, which unfortunately didn't last. You may recognize him from Hawaii 5-0, but I personally liked him better as a reluctant vampire.

My celebrity crush with the longest duration was another actor - the magnificent Christopher Reeve. Be still, my heart. Just LOOK at this photo! Another celebrity with intense eyes - do you see a pattern in my choices?

I first fell in love with him watching Superman, and then discovered the most romantic movie EVER: Somewhere in Time. I could watch either of those films over and over, just to see him, so luckily they are both good movies!

Since then other celebrity crushes have come and gone - Johnny Depp for example, but nobody has swept me away quite like Christopher Reeve, who died too young.

Who are your celebrity crushes? Do you have a vinyl collection? What's in it?