Music has been at the heart of my life since as far back as I can remember. Memories are painted over the top with so many songs. I can’t recall a good or bad memory without hearing the song that accompanied the joy or pain. The following is my version of a memoir.
When Dick asked Rob Gordon in the film High Fidelity, if he was organizing his record collection chronologically, Rob replies, “No, I am organizing them autobiographically.” I think of this as my Rob Gordon moment. This is part 1 that will take us from birth till 1st grade in 1978.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/2msCS8dvSok?rel=0
1972 – Heart of Gold – Neil Young – I love the feeling in this song and since I probably wasn’t choosing my own music in 1972, I have to choose one like this. Neil Young has meant different things to me at different points of my life, so it feels fitting to start with him.
1973- Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder Inspired RHCP to cover this so… In all seriousness (who needs that?), this is quintessential Stevie Wonder. Maybe that video of him when he was a kid playing the harmonica is more iconic, but hey, this is my list. Also, I sort of learned this bass line on a fretless Ernie Ball Music Man bass in college…
1974 – Piano Man – Billy Joel – Beautiful story telling..another song I came to appreciate later in life. Billy Joel is the American version of whatever is the European version. John Lennon? Benny and Bjorn? Bjork? Whatever the comparison, Billy Joel’s songwriting and story telling stand up to anyone that has put pen to paper.
1975 – Love is the Drug – Roxy Music – This is a tough one as there are songs I loved as a kid, but this is one of my favorite all time songs and this song got it’s start in 1975. I guess I needed a song that said, “I am cool, really. I listen to Roxy Music…” Seriously, though, many bands I would come to listen to and love later in life were undoubtedly inspired and influenced by this band. Also, in junior high, if you wrote “Roxy Music” on your Pee Chee notebook, you attracted all the girls…Or you got your ass kicked…Those memories are fuzzy.
1976 – Silly Love Songs – Wings – Hands down…love the song, plus it was the song that was playing when my first dog died…couldn’t listen to this song for years…It wasn’t until I heard Red House Painter’s version in the mid-90’s that I could listen to the original in an objective non-PTSD way.
1977 – Tonights the Night – Rod Stewart – This was between Dancing Queen and Carry on Wayward Son…tough…but, I can’t forget those days being a kid in LA listening to Rod Stewart on the radio…you couldn’t get away from this song… Many years later, I felt a little weird knowing that I rocked out to Rod Stewart lyrics as a 5 year old. Wait, what do the lyrics to “Afternoon Delight” mean? Eww…
1977b – Feels So Good – Chuck Mangione – not a “rock” song, but this song is all over my childhood…so, it get’s a mention. There was the story of my uncle making Mangione upset which by itself merits inclusion onto this list. Otherwise, how many “easy listening” hits ended up charting on the Billboard Hot 100? Also, nominated but lost to Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are”. See above…just proves that Billy Joel’s songwriting is pretty strong.
1977c /1978- We Will Rock You/We are the Champions – These songs go together..hands down…hands down…1977 was a tough year to choose a song. I started to become a “fan” of music at that time. It’s my list, so we get three songs for 1977. I did see this song on a list of top songs from 1978, but the release date is 1977 so…
1978 – The Grease Soundtrack – To come up with these songs I will go off of my memory or I look to the internet to see what was big during the year. These things can help jog my old memory. Looking at the Billboard list for 1978 I see songs from the Grease soundtrack all over the place. I still remember listening to an 8-track of this in our family friends Oldsmobile station wagon. In the way back of course…
1979 – YMCA – Village People – I of course didn’t know what they were talking about back then, but loved this song…I still remember getting in trouble with my Mom..she was really mad at me for some reason and sent me to my room. Later that evening the Village People were performing this song on the Merv Griffin show…I pretended to be asleep, but no matter how mad she was at me, she knew I liked this song and wanted me to see them…I should have not been pretending 🙂
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/QnbdXWvmysg?rel=0
Originally, this list was called “Songs in the Key of Life”, but Stevie Wonder already took that name?!?! Since mix tapes was the way many of us communicated with people of the opposite sex, I decided to go with “Mix Tape Life”.
https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/1210495053/playlist/07GMp4q18wa8IQaM6gCSBw
Trail and Music 
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