I've embraced many technological changes over the past 20 years ... except for one: the iPod -- that pocket-size contraption devised by Apple which allows you to store, and listen to, your favorite tunes. (In other words, your own personal jukebox.)
I do own an iPod Nano, which I won as a door prize early in 2009. Funny thing is, I've never taken it out of its plastic case. It's still sitting on my kitchen table.
Some Baby-Boomer habits are tough to break. Forget the iPod; I prefer my car radio, which is preset to 12 FM stations (6 on the FM1 band; 6 on FM2). Each station is either set to a rock, classic rock or oldies channel.
There are laws in the books that forbid talking on hand-held cell phones or texting while driving. I hope no municipality ever conjures up a law that prohibits drivers from punching buttons on the radio while one's vehicle is in motion because that's my major driving faux pas.
I still enjoy the element of surprise that radio provides. You never know what tune you might hear next.
During one recent button-pushing session, I dialed into the middle of a verse from a classic hit that I recall first hearing as a snot-nosed youngster with a crewcut on Chicago's WLS-AM when it was a Top 40 station --"California Dreamin' " by the Mamas and the Papas. The group featured the late Mama Cass Elliot, Denny Doherty, John Phillips and John's second wife, Michelle -- the lone surviving member of the group (who's been married 5 times herself).
John made infamous posthumous headlines last year when his daughter, Mackenzie Phillips (One Day at a Time and American Graffiti), revealed in her memoir that she and her father reportedly had an incestuous relationship. (So much for my innocent childhood memories of the Mamas and the Papas).
Dirty laundry aside, the Mamas and the Papas recorded a handful of chart-topping singles during the mid- to-late 1960s. Here's a link to the video clip from "California Dreamin" (don't laugh too hard, those of you who don't remember, or never lived through, this era!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtVIhDgo_uU
What follows are a few more tunes from the 1960s (along with my own liner notes) that, for whatever reason, stood out in this impressionable child's mind back in the day:
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin' " (Nancy Sinatra, 1966) -- I remember first hearing Frank Sinatra's daughter belt out this ditty during, I believe, a family vacation in Minnesota. When you're a kid, and someone says, "One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!," your ears perk up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRkovnss7sg Memorable lyrics: You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin'; you keep losing when you oughta not bet. You keep same-in' when you oughta be a' changin'. What's right is right, but you ain't been right yet. A year later, Nancy and Ol' Blue Eyes teamed up for a duet, titled, "Somethin' Stupid," which also topped the charts.
"Touch Me" (The Doors, 1968) -- The following video clip is what I actually viewed live on the family black-and-white Zenith when Jim Morrison and The Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show (a program that turned out to be a welcome reprieve after having to sit through Lawrence Welk at my Grandmother's house): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PECk9A-07Pw Memorable lyrics: I'm gonna love you 'till the heavens stops the rain. (Whatever that means ... then again, Morrison was a poet.) Morrison appeared to be on his best behavior that night -- a stark contrast to his performance with The Doors a year earlier on Ed Sullivan when CBS execs threw a fit after Morrison promised he wouldn't say the word "higher," which was part of the song, (as in high, a drug reference) on national TV -- but did so anyway. (Fast-forward 40-some years later, and just about anything goes on national TV nowadays. Ed Sullivan must be rolling over in his grave.)
"Age of Aquarius" (The 5th Dimension, 1969) -- The No. 1 hit of 1969 -- and the opening song in the musical "Hair" -- became an anthem of the psychedelic/long hair/peace/free love/war protest 1960s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LANwIgpha7k&feature=related Memorable lyrics: When the Moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars. Then peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars. Actually, these lyrics, according to astrologer Neil Spencer in a Wikipedia entry, are "astrological gibberish as Jupiter aligns with Mars several times a year and the Moon is in the seventh house for about two hours every day." (But hey, whoever said song lyrics either had to make sense or be factually correct?!) The 5th Dimension also had hits such as "Up, Up and Away," "Wedding Bell Blues" and "One Less Bell to Answer." The group's most famous members, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., eventually married and performed as a duo, with a No. 1 hit in 1977: "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)."
"Incense and Peppermints" (The Strawberry Alarm Clock, 1967) -- Great name for a band, and this tune had it all: a good groove, good harmonies, cowbell throughout (what song couldn't use more cowbell?) and strange lyrics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhYLz63csS0&feature=related Memorable (strange) lyrics: Tune-a by the cockeyed world in two. Throw your pride to one side, it's the least you can do. Beatniks and politics, nothing is new. A yardstick for lunatics, one point of view. I get the "beatniks and politics" reference (both were centerpieces of 1960s culture). In order to try to understand the rest of this number, I plugged the phrase, "Incense and Peppermints lyrics meaning," into Mr. Google (still can't bring myself to use Bing). According to faq.com, the gist behind Incense and Peppermints is this: "The psychedelic age was in full swing when Incense and Peppermints became popular. Incense is often burned to mask the smell of marijuana. Peppermints are used to mask the smoke on a person's breath." OK, I get it now.
"Hair" (The Cowsills, 1969) -- The Cowsills, a family pop group from Newport, Rhode Island, consisting of 6 siblings and their mother, Barbara, were the inspiration for Shirley Jones, David Cassidy and The Partridge Family in the 1970s. "Hair" -- the group's renditon of the title song from the musical -- made it to No.2 on the pop charts in 1969 and was a million seller. Ironically, The Cowsills were all clean-cut. They each donned wigs for this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFy-yzj02FE Memorable lyrics: Gimme a head with hair, long beautiful hair; shining, gleaming, streamin', flaxen, waxen. Give me down to there (hair!), shoulder length or longer (hair!); here baby, there mama, everywhere daddy daddy (hair!). The Cowsills also appeared on Ed Sullivan, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and American Bandstand. A few of the band's original members still perform together periodically. In fact, their most recent performance took place earlier this month at the Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center in Bettendorf, Iowa.
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