The recent passing of Dick Clark got me to thinking about the music that has most influenced my life. Growing up, I heard a lot of 30′s and 40′s music (my parent’s favorites) and some rock (my older sister’s favorites). I wasn’t really too much into music until I got into my twenties. Then I fell hard for a lot of the singer-songwriters of the 70′s.
My first big musical crush was Simon and Garfunkel. I loved their music and could sing (quite out of tune), most of their songs from memory. The “Sounds of Silence” and “The Boxer” were two of my favorites. I also loved James Taylor “AKA Sweet Baby James”, adored Carly Simon and Janis Ian, and Carole King, and John Denver. America‘s “Sister Golden Hair” defined my relationship with a man I loved. Lionel Richie and the Commodores “Hello” made me cry. I was sad for weeks after the deaths of Jim Croce and Harry Chapin. You get the drift. There are many others I loved and I could go on and on and on. Unfortunately, or possibly fortunately, there’s not time or room to list them all.
I still love the music from the 1970′s. It was and still is as, they say, “the soundtrack of my life”. Don’t get me wrong. I love a lot of different music and really enjoy performers like Adele and Daughtry and Garth Brooks. I am a faithful “American Idol” viewer. However, it’s the music of my youth that I keep going back to in both happy and sad times.
And now with the advent of wonderful music services like Pandora, Rhapsody and Spotify, I can customize the music to hear my favorites pretty much anytime or anywhere I want. They bring me so many memories, and I still love singing with them in my off-key voice.
Thank you, Dick Clark, for all the wonderful music and musicians you introduced to us. May you rest in peace.
