I was driving in Chet Lemon with my middle guy earlier this week. He hit the preset for the oldies station and up came a Jim Croce tune from the early '70s. The next one was Supertramp, late '70s. I asked him, “Do you have songs that you remember and like from growing up?”
He thought for a second and said, “Not really, Dad.”
I told him how "Operator" reminds me of being a kindergartener. How "The Logical Song" takes me right back to the summer before eighth grade.
And that is just it, that is what I have that he doesn’t.
I have a soundtrack for my life.
My generation had transistor radios dialed into WLS. We grew up on AM Top 40 and FM album sides. We went from 45s to 8-tracks, cassettes to CDs. We had used car ads in between Elton John ballads and Rolling Stones sticky fingers. We had a calendar that ran on Billboard charts.
If I hear a song from 1970 to 1995, I can tell you what I was wearing, where I was standing, and how the sun was falling across the playground. I’ve got songs that remind me of my Ma. Songs that bring back my Oldman. Songs tied to friends, classrooms, teachers, basements, and backyards.
Our kids might not have the same luxury.
They grew up on iPods and playlists. No DJs, no dead air, no late-night dedications. Just algorithms.
I have surrounded my kids with music, just like my parents did for me. You put on a Broadway tune from the ’60s or some Burt Bacharach and suddenly I am seven years old again, spinning in the kitchen or hiding behind the couch.
it makes me wonder:
What song will trigger a memory of me when I’m gone?
I can’t let the ShepKids go another day without knowing that they are building their own soundtrack.
Bob Marley was right.... when it hits you, music doesn’t hurt.
It heals.
It holds you.
It hums through your life even after you are gone.
So... let’s finish this summer with gusto Chalkheads and let’s make sure the music is always playing.
