30 November, 2007

First Songs

This (Goodbye Mister A) is the first song David has really taken notice of - it's all the rage in the playground or the school taxi. He tells me he first heard it on Space Pirates (a CBBC program). I think it's quite catchy myself. The video link above we like because it is performed by a cartoon penguin.

Thinking about "first songs," I can recall several. I don't think of one in particular. I think my taste was greatly influenced by the fact that my sister is almost 6 years older than I am, and played a lot of neat stuff in her room or on our radio. Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack, Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheel, Bye Bye Miss American Pie by Don McLean, I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Maxwell's Silver Hammer [there's a sick little tune] and so many more by the Beatles. Funnily, or naturally, I suppose, I still like every one of those songs.

I also remember Harper Valley PTA and Lynne Anderson's I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, from the time when mom worked nights in a country bar and I sometimes slept in my sleeping bag among the cases of liquor in the back room. Ahhh, the lack of child care for single parents.



The first albums I ever bought were Donny Osmond's A Time for Us and the Beatles' Abbey Road. Torn between pop and the groovy stuff, even at 8.

What were your first songs? First albums?

6 comments:

Susie J. said...

I think you don't want to know what my first "real" musical taste was, because it will show how young you think I am. The first album I bought was Mariah Carey, then Vanessa Williams. I was hugely into the Beach Boys for a long time before that though.

Toni said...

Oh dear, I think I might have you beat on sheer tackiness--mine was Kenny Roger's Greatest Hits. At least the next one was Journey, though any album containing something like "Open Arms" might not be too far from the top of the tacky-meter, either! :)

Lynn said...

LOL All I can say is that Donny Osmond is SO much better looking now!!

As far as first music, Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini comes to mind. My mom was a teenager in the late 50s so my first music was that. I remember watching a local kids' show and they played Pinball Wizard by the Who and I had no idea abt the song or the group! LOL However I do still have my first album, Music Machine. It had the latest in what was on the radio at the time. My best friend LOVED Melissa Manchester! We would sit and listen to that and play Monopoly.

Later came REO Speedwagon, Journey and Def Leppard. Apparently I was a closet rocker! LOL

Liz said...

The first... ok, it was a cd, but anyway my first CD was something by Weird Al. I don't remember the first song I was aware of but I could give you a list of songs my Dad used to play for me, including Brown Eyed Girl, My Girl, songs like that. It was probably one of those.

When I was 5 my mom took me to a knitting class with Alice Starmore (!) and I sat under the table reading and coloring. On the second day of the class I got a little restless and started singing along with the walkman. "Red, Red Wine" by UB40. Hee!

Anonymous said...

Age 8... hmm ... 1979. I was totally into Blondie

E-J said...

What fun to come and visit your earlier entries!

The first records I remember were, I believe, hits from the 60s that were still popular when I was little in the early 70s. "O bla di, o bla da" ... "The Monster Mash" ... "American Pie" ... and, ahem, "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep".

The first single I ever bought was John Lennon's "Imagine" in 1980. He'd just been shot dead, so this probably had more to do with circumstance/familiarity than being cool beyond my 10 years.

The first pop records I requested as gifts, when I was 8 yrs old, were the soundtrack to "Grease" and the debut album of Boney M ...

Please don't ever be tempted to blackmail me by revealing any of this to the public at large. I will deny everything.