What's especially good about songs of the 50s and 60s is that the words are easier to understand and the song messages set a scene or make sense. The songs aren't just a bunch of incomprehensible yelling, loud banging and crashing noises . The music of the good old days is filled with songs that have catchy beats, words a person can remember and sing along with or easily at a karoke performance. Any song of that era brings back a picture in my mind a face, place, happening of the time.
"Green Door," popular in my 7th grade year, more than 50 years ago, comes to mind, having seen it on the Lucky Strike Hit Parade. It was well performed by the cast, entertained even my mom and 5-year younger brother. It had a still-unanswerable question to it: What was behind the Green Door. What was "that secret they're keeping?"
Listening to "Rockin' Robin," a 1958 song by Bobby Day, I think the only popular song he made, always reminds me of walking with my close group of pals, Ken Kelling, Bob Martin and Barry Robinson, to the fire station in Hillyard after school to play some pool. Across the street was a group of 3 Rogers underclass girls. One of them I recognized was named Robin. She was a cute blond. We yelled some things at them, calling Robin "Rockin' Robin", but were ignored. That memory hangs still, thinking how dating her might have been special. It just seemed neat to put together the name of the song of a girl with a girl who had that name.
Another 1958 song, by the Big Bopper, "Chantilly Lace", has no high school memory, but when I hear it, I picture in my mind a cute waitress in a bar that played songs of my era, who was at the bar getting an order of drinks while Chantilly Lace was playing. She did a terrific "wiggle and a walk" during the words sung: "Chantilly Lace, pretty face, wiggle and a walk, jiggle and a talk... make the world go 'round, 'round, 'round...."
I have a collection of Time Warner CDs of popular music from 1954-1964. Every single one of them, when I look at the titles, makes the words and tunes come to mind. All are memories of my Logan Elementary grades 7 and 8; Rogers High School years of 1956-1960; and my college years of 1960-64 at Washington State University. The memories are filled with people I knew, places I was at, things I saw or was doing. Each of those years has my personal Top Hit of the year:
- 1955: "Rock around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets. That made the beginning of Rock and Roll. It brings to mind seeing Haley in a music short at the Liberty Theater in Spokane, with Haley performing on a stage with the "Comets", falling on the floor as he was dancing away. It disgusted my mom, but I thought it was neat and very unusual...which it was.
- 1956: "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins. I got a pair of white bucks once, the closest I could get to blue suede shoes. The song is one of those that is very fun to sing along with. "You can do what you want, but stay offa my blue suede shoes."
- 1957: Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of FIre." To this day, whenever something remarkable comes to mind, I will often say, "Goodness gracious, great balls of 'fi-yaa" as Jerry sang it. It was masterful rock and roll. I have the movie video of his life which is titled the same as his most popular song, "Great Balls of Fire."
- 1958: Probably "Splish Splash" by Bobby Darin. The song was put together with a funny bunch of words, "rub,dub I was sitting in the tub, thinking everything was all right..." and, "How as I to know there was a party goin' on..." A highly unusually-worded song.
- 1959: "Teenager in Love" by Dion on the Belmonts, was sung by teacher friends who lived in that song's era and when they put on talent shows, (I saw two, during my junior high and high school teaching days), for the students. We teachers, remember teenage loves we all had, knowing our teen students had their own.
- 1960: "Good Timin" by Jimmy Jones" "...cause he had timin'--a picka-picka-picka good timin--timin', timin', timin', timin'--timin's gonna come, to you and timin's for me and you..." What catchy words. That song reminds me of my girl friend of that year, for some strange reason. I guess I just put the two likes together. I liked the song and my girl friend of the time, even though she dumped me, but I still like the song's words.
- 1961: My freshman year in college, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" brings back double memories. The Kingston Trio made it popular at first. The Tokens made it more musical of the early 60s in sound and style, and that song brings back memories of hearing it when I was with a cute girl friend, going back to Pullman after a football game in Spokane. She also dumped me later, but the song is a good memory, for the unusual African-sounding words. She's not.
- 1962: "Duke of Earl" by Gene Chandler is one played often on my local "Golden Oldies" radio station. I like the beginning words, "Duke, duke, duke, Duke of Earl, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl, Duke, Duke,Duke of Earl, Duke, Duke...well I..." Saying "duke" in such a long string, is very unusual, and that makes it so memorable. I can remember a fraternity brother singing that song, acting like he was the Duke. He sort of looked like one as I would expect a duke to look like in a movie.
- 1963: "On Broadway" by The Drifters. I don't remember the song that particular year, but I'll never forget the scene and day I was at a WSU football game in the 1980s, maybe 90s, at Oregon State when the Cougar Marching Band's drummer group went down on the field at the end of the victorious game and the whole band played the song. The drummers' performance was as thrilling as the school's Fight Song.
- 1964: I "gotta go." Those words are from the song, "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen. "Yah, yah, yah, yah, yah, yah, yah."
Doing Music Mems for this year's topic on the Rogers website has been fun...and full of memories. "Sweet, sweet, the memories are made of this. You can't beat, the memories you gave to me." Thanks, Dean Martin, for the memories you and all the other songsters gave to me.