I spent a lot of my youth in the backseat of 1972 Mercury Marquis, bored out of my mind. My parents liked to go places and my brother and I were just along for the ride. My mother's parents lived almost three hours away, so that was a trip we took about every six weeks. While the backseat crew yearned for AM Radio stations with names like WIXY 1260, my parents only ever tuned in to FM, back when that meant Easy Listening.
Thanks to google, I was able to recall a lot of the songs I was tortured with back then:
- Catch a Falling Star - Perry Como
- Love Is a Many Splendored Thing - The Four Aces
- By the Time I Get To Phoenix - Glen Campbell
- Moon River - Andy Williams
- Goin' Out Of My Head - Little Anthony & The Imperials
- Call Me - Petula Clark
- Wives & Lovers - Percy Faith
My parents had a few albums that we listened to on a box record player. Ones I remember:
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| My favorite Christmas album |
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| This was produced for Goodyear. It was very popular in my hometown to have Firestone or Goodyear Christmas albums. |
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| My mom loved her Burt Bacharach. |
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| My favorite of my parents' music was Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. If you are not familiar with them, take a listen: |
Great music and Herb was easy on the eyes! While researching this post, I learned that Alpert was not Hispanic, but a nice Jewish boy from L.A. and he co-founded A&M Records. Who knew?
What music did my husband and I subject our own offspring to? They dealt with the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, U2, Dave Matthews Band, and of course, Barenaked Ladies, because Bert Kaempfert's got the mad hits. Anyone else know that reference?
Reading this post (which is AWESOME) brought back so many memories for me as a kid because many of the songs you listed were songs that were popular back then, and were also favorites of my parents as well.
ReplyDeleteYES to the Johnny Mathis Christmas album! We had the same one. Don't you just love his voice?
And OMG...I clearly remember that album cover (and "A Taste of Honey" song) from the Herb Alberts's Tijuana Brass like it was yesterday! My older brother played the trumpet when he was a kid and he would try to emulate Herb Albert! And yes, I totally agree, he was "easy on the eyes" LOL!
Some of my parents' favorites were: Patsy Cline, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Bobby Darin. And I have to say that I still enjoy listening to them today.
GREAT post, my friend! Thanks for sharing it. Happy Monday! X
Readers seem to enjoy my nostalgia posts, so I’m going to give them what they want! Lol! I did love Johnny Mathis. Such an outstanding voice. We had two or three Herb Alpert albums and I could listen to them on repeat. That’s so cool that your brother played trumpet and tried to copy Alpert. My son played trumpet in school, but I never thought to introduce him to that music. I really should have! Thanks for reading and enjoy your week!
DeleteMy mother liked show tunes from Broadway musicals and classical music. My father liked opera and inexplicably bagpipe music. Neither listened to pop music. I learned about it from radio stations.
ReplyDeleteI played piano for many years, so I got to know both classical and show tunes from playing them. I would have not enjoyed the opera or the bagpipes!
DeleteMy father was keen on the jazz musicians of that era, like Errol Garner, Duke Ellington , Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald. He also liked Frank Sinatra. Can't remember much about my mother's musical tastes except that she liked Alma Cogan and Shirley Bassey. Needless to say, neither of them liked the pop and rock music of the sixties, though my father rather took to the Beatles. They certainly wouldn't appreciate the sort of music I listen to today!
ReplyDeleteI was always surprised that neither of my parents liked Elvis or the Beatles, as they were quite young when both were popular. My parents always labeled my music as ‘noise’ because I liked bands like the Talking Heads and the Police back in the day.
DeleteI don't remember my parents listening to much music. I know my kids associate myself with 90s alternative and grunge.
ReplyDeleteI never liked grunge but am all about alternative.
DeleteI don't remember listening to music in the car when we were kids. My kids got to listen to music from the 60's and 70 when they were young because that is what my husband and I liked most!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how your kids liked that music?
DeleteMy mom was a huge country music fan. I had to suffer through a lot of Kenny Rogers, Alabama, Reba, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson... I freaking hated it. I just wanted to listen to Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bangles, Whitney Houston. Funny enough, I did get an appreciation for country music later in life. I even took my mom to a Garth Brooks concert and Tim McGraw concert as well a few years back and we had plans on seeing George Strait, but then Covid derailed those plans and we had to get a refund on our tickets.
ReplyDeleteI can NOT handle any country music. It really truly grates on my nerves! That would have been pure misery for me. What’s nice daughter to take your mom to those concerts, though.
DeleteNice post ^^
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteI was laughing at your parents' list; in the small northern-Michigan town I grew up in, there was only one radio station. They did a decent job of top-40 in the evenings, when the young folks were listening, but before 7PM, that list was exactly what they played, all day, every day, except for the Polish Polka Hour. . .
ReplyDeleteMy mom (my dad couldn't carry a tune in a basket, and was pretty much un-musical) loved classical music, Glenn Miller, and Broadway show tunes. Which, you know, could have been a lot worse. I sorta re-discovered Glenn Miller in my college days, and I've always loved classical music, especially Beethoven and Rachmaninoff.
For me, it was the Beatles, the Who, Simon & Garfunkel, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, and my kids have largely enjoyed my taste (two of 'em went with me to see McCartney in Detroit ~10 yrs ago). A couple of my sons are deep into Led Zeppelin, which makes me smile, since I was never that into Zeppelin. . .
How funny about that radio station, Craig! LOL!!! I'm glad you remembered those songs with me. My parents liked Glenn Miller too and would go to the orchestra concerts that play his music in their later years. Since I played piano, I appreciated classical music, too. My middle child still plays and is performing Mozart's Sonata in C Major at an upcoming recital.
DeleteI knew you liked the Beatles, but I didn't know about the others. I've always loved Stairway to Heaven, but cannot tolerate other Zeppelin. It's mind numbing to me!
My parent loved to listen every kind of music because we believed that music always heals the soul. I just listened Herb Albert and Tijuana Brass and watched its video. Its tune was really good. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteMusic does heal the soul. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteGirl you have tapped into a corner of my psyche that is deep, wide, and crammed with the hits of the sixties. I was born in 1957, and had music-loving parents. Because we moved a lot (at least twice per year) and spent what seemed like months on the road in general, I too spent an inordinate amount of time in the backseat of a car, listening to the likes of Andy Williams, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Matt Munro, Nat King Cole, The Mills Brothers, Vic Damone, Jerry Vale, Pet Clark, Steve Lawrence and Eydie GormƩ, et cetera ... and in the late sixties, when we had more or less settled down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, we had a cloth-covered stereo speaker mounted over the door in our living room, and it was wired to our radio, and it played more or less constantly. I would lie on the floor underneath it, reading and listening to tunes by the Carpenters, Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, Glen Campbell (oh how I loved him), Dionne Warwick, and even the Monkees, although usually my sister and I had to close the door to our room and play them on our little mono record player. It was all so awesome. I loved Percy Faith and Bert Kaempfert! I became Neil Diamond's biggest fan upon receiving an album of his greatest hits from my aunt for my fourteenth birthday, and I only associate Sweet Caroline with him -- he wrote it, after all -- and did not even know BK's orchestra recorded it! Amazing! Of course we had the Herb Alpert Whipped Cream album! And we knew every syllable to the lyrics of Red Roses for a Blue Lady, because our mother sang it full-volume whenever that song came on the radio. Thank you for resurrecting these wonderful memories, although they are never all that far from my mind.
ReplyDeleteI love it! You and I might have passed each other on the road in the 60’s. I forgot about Steve & Eydie! A great duo. I’m glad someone else remembers Bert and Percy. How funny about your mom singing Red Roses because my dad did, too. His favorite to sing was Patsy Cline’s ‘I Love You So Much It Hurts Me.’ That makes me miss him. I’m just a bit younger than you, so my little record player saw Elton John and Shaun Cassidy. Good times! Thanks for sharing your great memories!
DeleteThe music my parents enjoyed most was also easy listening and vocalists that included Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Ella Fitzgerald. They always watched the variety specials and shows by musical performers such as Dean Martin, Judy Garland. Weekly viewing included Lawrence Welk and Mitch Miller shows. My dad's favorite music type was big bands and to this day my husband and I will listen to the 40s station on Sirius. We had several albums by Herb Alpert, but did not have the JM Christmas album and in fact had few, if any, holiday music albums. My preferences were and still are for music from the 60s including the Beatles and Beach Boys.
ReplyDeleteAll those you mentioned were indeed classics from that generation. I remember my Grandma watching Lawrence Welk and visiting Grandma’s friend who watched Polka Variety (which may have been a Cleveland show).
Delete"One Week" started working its way through my brain before I even read a word of your post. Thanks! I think...
ReplyDeleteThe backseat soundtrack to my youth was Paul Simon and Cat Stevens (my dad's favorites), while my mom gravitated toward ABBA, Chicago, and Barbra Streisand. Fortunately, I still like most of that music to this day.
Finally! I knew I could count on you to get the reference, Mark! I actually never knew who Bert was in the song until I was researching for this post and put two and two together. Apparently, I grew up listening to him but never knew his name! Your parents were the generation in between me and my parents. I was not a huge fan of 70’s music, besides some of the disco at the end. I did like Boston and Aerosmith in junior high while wearing my bell bottom jeans.
DeleteFor some strange reason, I always thought Neil Diamond wrote Sweet Caroline. To be honest, I have not heard of Bert Kaempfert until now :) He does sound talented though with the songs written. I knew some of them! So why did you and your brother yearn for the AM station? More songs you were familiar with? My mom pretty much kept the radio on all day/evening when we were growing up. For long stretches of time we didn't have a TV so the radio was our only "entertainment." She just listened to whatever the "contemporary" station was. I remember in high school it was Rod Stewart and the like that was played a lot. We always watched the Andy Williams Christmas special. We got to stay up late for it! For records, we had a lot of sound tracks from music so we listened to those. We would take turns putting on records to listen to at night when falling asleep. I think we barely got through the first album before we were all sleeping! Great memories this brought back!
ReplyDeletebetty
When I was researching for this post, it listed Sweet Caroline as a song Bert composed, but it probably just meant his composition for his orchestra. My brother and I didn’t want to listen to easy listening; we wanted rock and roll/pop that the AM stations played in the early 70’s. Back then, at least where we lived, FM did not play that. I remember the Andy Williams Christmas specials! Good memories, for sure.
DeleteI love this post; music is always such a great way to share your history and it certainly connects us all.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that phrase from The Barenaked Ladies? I love them by the way and I think my kids just saw them at Universal Studios a few months ago.
My Mom loved music and she played the hits of that time; the early 70's. So when I listen to The Bridge or 70's Chanel on Sirus XM, it holds good memories for me. I still remember her driving and dancing at the same time. (I do it too!)
My kids grew up listening to the same music you subjected yours to plus Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hootie and The Blow Fish and some Madonna. They still love it too.
My nostalgia posts seem to be quite popular, so I will continue to come up with new ones. YES, you and Mark recognized the BNL lyric in my title. I never connected it until I researched my parents’ music and learned it was the same Bert. So cool! I’m a huge BNL fan, but I never got over Steven Page’s exit from the band. The only Sublime song I know is What I Got, which I’ve always loved to sing along to. I also love a lot of RHCP, esp. Californication. It’s fun when your kids love your music! Now my grandson loves BNL, too!
DeleteI am not familiar with Bert Kaempfert and his mad hits but I think I will be soon because I am going to the Google machine. Elvis, CCR, The Doors, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and Bob Segar are a few that come to mind.
ReplyDeleteYour parents are the generation between me and my parents, so those bands make sense. I remember thinking I was so cool in high school because I liked the Doors, which were a bit retro by then. Lol! But I always disliked Bob Seger and his Silver Bullet Band.
DeleteMy parents had a Volkswagon van with a table, small kitchen and seats way in the back. That's what we rode in to go on vacations. There were a couple of pull out beds in it as well. I don't remember them playing any music when we traveled for Summer vacations.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds really fun, Mary! I would have loved it.
Delete"I hope the smoking man's in this one."
ReplyDeleteYour musical choices are more aligned with mine than your parents' were. I hadn't heard 99% of those, at least, so far as I know from title and artist alone. I remember my dad playing a lot of Ventures, and hearing them every now and then randomly makes me smile. :) I'll bet this was a fun trip down memory lane for you.
I thought you’d recognize the title, you young’un you! You’re way too young to know that easy listening stuff though. I had to look up the Ventures, so maybe I’m young, too!
DeleteGreat post! My parents listened to Country and Western, so I liked Rock and Classical! I had no idea that Herb Albert was Jewish. I though he was Hispanic, too. When my daughter was two and we were living out west, taking a trip to Salt Lake City (5 hour drive), The Rolling Stones came on the radio. My daughter, who has a good ear for music, spoke up. "Dad, is that The Rolling Stones?" My wife about had a fit about her daughter listening to the Stones when she wasn't around.
ReplyDeleteOf course you liked what your parents didn’t! That’s the job of offspring. Wasn’t that interesting about Herb Alpert? Age 2 is really young to be able to name a band!
DeleteOh, what a fabulous post, Bijoux!
ReplyDeleteThose car rides must have been pure torture. (Though I do confess I like Little Anthony & the Imperials.)
My brother had the Herb Albert album (I loved that cover!) But I thought he was Hispanic too! Who knew? !
My dad was Irish and he used to blast the Clancy Brothers all the time. My siblings and I hated them back then, but we got to enjoy them...eventually.
Bert Kaempfert's Swingin' Safari album had a song called "That Happy Feeling" which was used as a theme song for the Sandy Becker Show, a local kid's program.
One of my brothers actually asked for that record for Christmas and my mom was able to track it down.
Thanks so much for this wonderful story. It gave me a real happy feeling! (See below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Wx8BRjzoI
It was pure torture when all you wanted was a little Elton John! LOL, looking back while researching this post made me appreciate the music at least. What boy wouldn't love that album cover? And the music was fabulous, too! I have to say, I was not familiar with That Happy Feeling. It didn't sound familiar to me, but I can see how it would make a great theme for a kids show. Thanks for chiming in on this post, Rob. Have a great weekend.
DeleteThis post made me laugh. I was spoiled in the back seat because I had a walkman and would listen to my Stripped album on repeat! I wonder if my kids feel this way. We're constantly driving around and they're forced to go on the ride. This is a whole new perspective.. LOL
ReplyDeleteThe best I had was a transistor radio, but I don't know if it would have worked on long car rides, plus, no headphones or ear buds back then! Your poor kids . . . LOL! To this day, I HATE riding in the car for any length of time. I bet your kids like your music?
DeleteMy music? Oh we aren't allowed to listen to our music. LOL It's Disney Radio or crying kids.. LOL
DeleteOk, that would suckš¤£
DeleteNice trip down memory lane. Fleetwood Mac is a fave.
ReplyDeleteLove them!
Delete"Like Snickers guaranteed to satisfy." I love Bare Naked Ladies! Have you heard the duet they do with Sara McLaclan of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen? It's one of my favorite Christmas songs.
ReplyDeleteMy parents mostly listened to oldies when I was a kid; things like the Beach Boys, Beatles, Diana Ross, Elvis, etc. So, I recognize at least the song or artist (in most cases, both) on your list of what your parents listened to. Have you heard Petula Clark's songs Downtown or My Love? Those are two of my favorites of hers. I like most oldies and have several oldies playlists. We had a lot of oldies music at our wedding and it was so much fun to see the older guests dancing and teaching the younger people some dances.
Stuff my parents listened to that I didn't like is stuff that I think is classified as classic rock. Maybe hard rock from the 70s? And what is basically church music. They don't listen to hymns like normal people, but have their very own and they are truly awful.
Now I listen to a lot of 90s country because , in my opinion, that was the best era for country music. And a lot of 90s stuff in general. I seem to like the music every 30 years. I like a lot of 60s music and a lot of 90s music.
Hahaha…..yes! Such great lyrics from BNL! Of course I know that duet! I have their Christmas cd, which is my very favorite. And my dad really like Petula, so I know all her songs. How could I have forgotten to put Downtown on my list!? A classic! That’s funny that your parents listened to both classic rock AND bad hymns. You made me laugh! There are definitely classic old time hymns (A Might Fortress) and then the kind that have no melody and drone on and on. I do think the 90’s had a lot of great music, right before boy bands took over.
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