Wednesday, May 13, 2009

You'll Fall in Love if you Watch This

Now I know that some of you go back far enough (you notice I didn't say you were old enough) - go back far enough to remember when music was really music. It was pleasant and comforting and often brought a tear to your eye or made your heart palpitate. Go back to the days when guys and gals "went steady" and you wore his class ring on a chain around your neck. When you would walk down the school hallway together and everyone would know that you were "an item." When you would ride in his car and drag Broadway on a Friday night where everyone would see you and know that you "were together." When you had a midnight curfew and you'd leave Broadway at 10:30 so that you could spend some time "parking" out on a country road being alone. When you wore his letter jacket even though it was 4 sizes too big but it was "his" and that made you feel extra special. Back to the days when you would wear matching sweaters. Back to the days when today's kids would think we were absolutely corny.

Ole and I started dating the fall of our senior year in high school, and from our first date on we were inseparable. We went to all the high school events together - the winter formal, prom, senior skip day, all the high school graduation parties, all the BIG events. From our first date on we never dated anyone else. A year and a half later we were engaged and four months later we were married. Back in those days it didn't take a year or two to plan a wedding. You just did it.

But the music from those days - are there certain songs that when you hear them you can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing? The car Ole had when we were in high school was a 1949 Ford - dark blue - really pretty and he took great care of it, washing and polishing all the time, and always tinkering with the engine to get "more power" out of it. He was a car guy even way back then. Always having to scrub the grease out from under his fingernails (chuckle). Back then the radios weren't instant on, like they are now. You turned on the radio and had to wait for the tubes to warm up before you could hear anything. Boy, don't I sound like I'm from the dark ages? Anyway, the radio in his car didn't have digital readout like they do now - they had numbers and you had to turn the dials to tune in a radio station. There was Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Vee, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Dion - and on and on and on. Many were the nights that we would sit and listen to Wolf Man Jack out of Oklahoma City coming this far north because of the "skip" that took place during the cold winter nights. If you don't know what skip is, ask some radio man - but it has something to do with bouncing radio waves in cold weather. Anyway, his radio would give off a soft glow as it played those old tunes. So many memories.

Someone sent me the following video in an email this morning and it's just to wonderful not to share. So tune in and fall in love all over again.

Brings back SO MANY memories from the days when they wrote REAL music!!

Love Lena

6 comments:

harrietv said...

Oh, thanks! Being a "late bloomer," I didn't fall in love till ten years after I finished high school, but I did love the Platters. To me, "Only You" is the beginning of Doo Wop.

Paula said...

I don't remember times like that but the guy I married does. The 5 years between us are like a generation. He a child of the 60's me of the 70's....he fondly remembers Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee....for me it was more Grateful Dead and Allman Bros...Led Zeppelin, etc....but one thing Mike and I did agree on.....NO DISCO....NO HOW....NO WAY!!!!

Schnitzel and the Trout said...

Thanks for sharing, and I could agree totally. We started dating when I was a freshman and he a sophomore and married 3 years after my graduation from high school. Love hearing "Only You" again. Thanks for the memories.

Carolyn said...

I often sing this song to Bill. Unfortunately I am completely tone deaf, so it doesn't do much for him.
I thought about you yesterday because Shelby wore her Sturgis shirt.
We got our trailer out of storage and are (slowly) getting it ready for another camping season. We usually camp Memorial weekend, regardless of the weather. This year we've decided to wait until it gets a bit warmer...and dryer. Take care.

Meggie Marchstives@gmail.com said...

It's so much fun to read about other people's childhoods (or teenage-hood, if that is even a word). Everyone who fell in love in the 60s or early 70s has a different story -- different but similar enough to say, oh yeah, I remember that song. Dwain and I often hear a song and we say to each other, "okay, where were you when you heard this song?" In an instant we are trasported back in time. BTW: The Platters have a show in Branson, MO.

Memaw's memories said...

Oh, the memories. I always watch the PBS presentations of the old music, with the Temptations, the Shirells and all of them.

And they do bring back memories. My first husband was with the beginning of the DoWop era. I graduated in 1966 and was right in the middle of the Beach Boys music when the Beatles invaded.

What fun to remember.