When Sirius Radio offered a low rate last year, I took advantage and signed up. I like listening to books when I’m in the car, but music is always a first choice on the road.
Our granddaughters quickly found the Disney Channel, and that button stays pushed when they’re in the car. I love listening to them sing Disney tunes while we’re running errands.
Some of the comedy channels are too raunchy, and the spa music channels put me to sleep. There are four channels that stand out and I visit those most frequently.
There’s a hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s and the 90s, and they’re a stroll down memory lane. They’re not labeled “oldies but goodies,” so I don’t feel like a dinosaur when Neil Diamond starts singing “Song Sung Blue.”
These are songs from our high school years, and those tunes are some of the most meaningful in our lives. The teen-age years are when we’re finding out about love, friendship and life.
I’d forgotten how popular artists like John Denver, Stevie Wonder and the Osmonds were back then. They were young and full of life and sunshine, just like we were.
Their music was pretty simple – “isn’t she lovely” and “poems, prayers and promises.” We thought The Partridge Family’s David Cassidy was the best looking guy around, and Donny Osmond was the boy you’d bring home to meet your mom.
Those of us from this era will remember hearing John Denver’s pure vocals and deciding we all had to go to Colorado at least once in our lives.
Every generation thinks their songs are the best, and I’m no different. There were some songs from that time with deep meaning because we came on the cusp of the 60s.
I don’t think any generation can come close to the powerful lyrics of the hippie age. The first time I heard “War” by Edwin Starr, I was blown away. His deep baritone called for justice. The song is as angry and raw as it was 50 years ago.
Credence Clearwater Revival also sang out against the Vietnam War. “Fortunate Son” reverberates as an anti-war and class struggle anthem, and the lyrics still apply.
For those overwhelmed from the protests and the hippie movement, Simon and Garfunkle provided a safe place to land, especially with “Sounds of Silence” and “The Boxer.”
Aretha reminded a generation of women to expect respect and not settle for anything less. Carole King came along and told females it was okay to be a natural woman, free to pursue the arts instead of the perfect apple pie.
My sister and I agree that the 80s were a blur. We were having children that decade, and we mostly listened to Sesame Street songs. I switched over to country music about that time because the songs from my teenage years were now on the “golden oldies” channel. I wasn’t ready for that slide into geezer-hood.
My eldest boy hit the teenage years in the 90s, and I couldn’t get into the music he liked. Parents don’t usually agree with the music their teenager likes, and I was no different.
So he listened to Eminem, Green Day and Rage Against the Machine while I played songs from my day in my head.
One song stands out for me. “Desiderada,” written by Max Ehrmann, seems simple and cotton-candy sweet, but the words from that song helped my generation become a bit kinder.
The words rang true then and now – “Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence.”
Except in my car when I’m stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic because the hits from the 70’s are rocking.
This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.