Every sha-la-la-la. . .





The year is 1973. . . wait, no it's not , it's 2012. It's been a long, long time since 1973, but Casey Kasem is on XM Radio THIS morning with America's Top 40 for the week of Jan. 27, 1973. What a nice coincidence, since just this week I heard that, at age fourteen, the teenage brain begins to process it's own taste in music. It's when we break away from what our parents listen to, and begin to form our own personal jukebox. That would explain why it's always 1973 in my head - and on my ipod.

The music, that first forms a bond with you, stays with you forever. It was the peak of the singer-songwriter era, from John Denver's Rocky Mountains and James Taylor's begging not to be lonely, to Lobo telling her to have no expectations of friendship and the first moment Gilbert O'Sullivan met Claire; sigh!

It was the year I bought Revolver, 1962-1966 (The Red Album), and 1967-1970 (The Blue Album) begining a life long love affair with The Beatles - but that's a story in itself. 1973 was also the year of two albums, that to this day, remain on my top ten list - Paul Simon's There Goes Rhymin' Simon and Ringo Starr's Ringo.

The fourteen year old brain also binds us to our guilty pleasures. I'm not proud, but I am guilty of singing along with Hurricane Smith, Billy Swan, Charlie Rich, and Vicki Lawrence. I can play the intro to Smoke on the Water and Frankenstein (but what fourteen year old can't?), I love Jermaine Jackson's cover Daddy's Home and longed to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Alone in the car, bad choreograohy and all, I'm a Pip (Woo, Woo). Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear, just. . .blame it on being fourteen. But, it's not all guilt, just hit shuffle on my ipod and you stand a good chance of finding yourself in "73. . .

Right Place, Wrong Time (Dr. John)

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) (George)

Angie (Stones)

Dancing in the Moonlight (King Harvest)

Feeling Stronger Every Day (The Chicago Transit Authority)

Will It Go 'Round in Circles (Billy Preston)

Drift Away (Dobie Gray)

Me and Mrs. Jones (Billy Paul)

Superstitions (Stevie Wonder)

Benny and the Jets (Elton John)

Live and Let Die, Jet, Hi Hi Hi, My Love (that's right four from 1973)

Ballroom Blitz (Sweet)

Fallin' In Love (The one and only hit for The Souther, Hillman, Furray Band)

Papa Was A Rolling Stone (the Temps)

Ain't No Woman (Like the One I Got) (The Tops)

Let's Get it On (Marvin Gaye)

Yesterday Once More (The Carps)

. . .and indeed it is, Every sha-la-la-la, Every wo-o-wo-o, fits right in along side all the Muddy Waters, Jack Johnson, Wilco, Pink Martini, Crowded House, Django Reinhardt, Jackson Browne, Dylan, Costello, Jayhawks and Old 97s that residein my ipod. Do I have a favorite, you ask? Yeah, I kind of do. 1973. "Lookin' back on how it was, in years gone by . . . Must explain why, if you yell from the back of the room, "play Free Bird," I can. Where were you, at fourteen?

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