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I went with option two for this #engagetheweekend music topic. The question was, more or less, what song have I recently started listening to, and what is it about the music that resonates with me? I imagine most who have noticed my musical tastes would assume I was going with something Beatle-esque or Beach Boy-ish, but not true. Or maybe something shoegaze. No luck. For this one, I had to go with the Jive Five's My Story.
When I was in college, I worked part-time for a rental car agency at the local airport. The company was Avis Rent-A-Car, and they rented a large hangar that we used to drive cars to wash and clean. At night, I used to crank up the volume of an FM "oldies station" in the car I would clean. It's how I discovered those Rolling Stones, Beatles, Animals, Kinks, and Buddy Holly gems. Yet the style that really resonated with me as vacuumed away the interiors of cars was doo-wop.
I love doo-wop. The Del Vikings, the Platters, Frankie Lymon, the Five Satins...so much great music. The harmonies, the accompaniments, the chords, the sadness, the atmosphere...all so good. There are so many wonderful songs in that style, however, my favorite doo-wop track would have to be My True Story.
The song recently popped into my head when we were watching the new Velvet Underground documentary on Apple TV. It was mentioned that Lou Reed was a doo-wop-based guy, and I immediately thought Now you must cry... I couldn't remember the name of the song, but thank goodness for YouTube. Now I've listened to it at least a hundred times over the past month.
I don't know if it's the chorus or what, but this song has stuck with me since I've been 18 years old. It's up there with Beethoven, Fields, Wilson, Lennon, and Mozart, as far as I"m concerned. It's ingrained in my brain, as one would say. It's dark, melancholic, human, and beautiful; it's everything I love about music and the feeling music gives me. A+, as it were!
So, there you have it; a true blast from the past. My wife had an oldies station on Spotify the other day and one of the songs playing was a tune by the Strokes. My, how the definition of oldies has changed. Sure the Strokes are good, but if you really want to hear the origins of rock and pop, get on YouTube and start with the Jive Five!
Thanks for stopping by; as always, I try to keep it interesting! At the very least, I hope this post opens the doorway for some to the magic of doo-wop.