Simon and Garfunkel "Cloudy" (1966)
Cloudy
I'm pretty sure I was the one who talked my mother into joining the Columbia Record Club. She would do things like that for me when I was in junior high and high school. I'd already built up a sizeable library of books as a member of three Doubleday Book Clubs--the Dollar Book Club, the Mystery Book Club, and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club. After the introductory offers and the book each month for a few years, I had such a library that I had to convince my mother to buy a second book shelf for my bedroom. She bought it. She was good to all of her kids like that.
By seventh grade I had already began to purchase favorite hit singles on 45 RPM records. Even before that I regularly enjoyed listening to the LP records that my parents owned, but after I started getting more interested in the music that kids my age were mostly listening to I turned my attention toward record albums.
Albums weren't inexpensive as far as my financial resources back then allowed. I talked my mother into buying a few here and there or if I had some extra money I might spend it on a coveted album. But after I finagled my mom into joining the record club the albums came more freely.
She let me choose the albums for the introductory deal so I made sure I had a fair mix of music she liked as well as some albums that intrigued me. Later on we'd get the featured albums that the club automatically sent. They tended to be the top pop hits of the day so I got plenty of music that interested me.
One of my favorite albums that came from the club was Simon and Garfunkel's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. I was already a fan of the duo from their debut hit "The Sound of Silence". I had bought that 45 and played it until I knew every nuance of the song. They had a gentle airy sound with lyrics that could be in a book of poetry.
The Simon and Garfunkel album that I got from the record club was no disappointment to me. It was played repeatedly with me hanging onto every word of the songs. Even now a gentle song like "Cloudy" might play wistfully in the back of my mind as I recall holding the album in my hands looking at the cover. High school. It was a time when music comforted me and encouraged me. There has rarely been a time in my life when music didn't do that.
Did you belong to any record or book clubs when you were younger? Do you belong to any now? What music comforted you the most when you were in high school?
Great Blog, followed you. Happy A-Z Blogging!
ReplyDeleteNo record club but I have the Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album. Listening to "Cloudy" makes me miss S&G even more. Gosh they were good!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Happy A to Z! And thanks for popping by my blog!
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My mom always had us signed up for one book club or another, but when I went to college, I signed up for the Columbia Records club and bought album after album.
ReplyDeleteMusic has always set my mood for me, whether I was listening to Mozart, Zappa, or everyone in between. Even now, certain songs that were associated with a high school crush will transport me right back to that time when I hear them.
I like that song too. I didn't join a record club until I became an adult and then we got 8 tracks. Remember those babies?
ReplyDeleteMy mom was pretty wonderful but I could never talk her into signing up for the record or book club.
ReplyDeleteTherefore I was not a big fan of music in my childhood. The first song I can remember being gaga over was Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Any time it came on the radio I had to stop whatever I was doing and sing it at the top of my lungs! Luckily for my parents we lived out in the boonies and didn't have great radio reception.
The next song I remember loving was Stop in the Name of Love by the Supremes. Oh man I could do the whole song and their little dance routine. I thought I was something.
Enjoyed your post, gave me a little walk down memory lane :)
My parents, esp. my mother, thought I was wasting my money on records so I wasn't allowed to join those columbia house clubs till I was an adult on my own. I used to have to smuggle my purchases into the house mixed in w/ my friend's albums that I was 'borrowing to tape'. Music was the only thing that kept me alive in high school. I would listen to it and imagine that I was far away from that wretched town and school and my lonely life.
ReplyDeleteLee,
ReplyDeleteOne of my sisters and I used to save our money from cotton picking in the summers and go to the Five Star Market on the edge of town(more like a variety store). We would buy 45 RPM records - five for a dollar in those days.
Sunni
Such a good description of Simon and Garfunklel's poetry music..."gentle airy sound'. My all time favorite of their's Bridge Over Troubled Waters....Cecelia was a theme song for a national volleyball team I played on...we rocked the California VB Scene. Great memories...thanks.
ReplyDeleteSue at CollectInTexas Gal
Thank you all for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteA few responses:
Lynda -- I later years I joined the clubs for cassettes and CD's. Also joined new book clubs. Now I have way too much stuff.
Teresa-- When the 8tracks became popular we changed our club format option to those. Should have stuck to the albums.
Alicia --- A lot of memories for many of us in music.
JoJo -- I know exactly what you're saying. I felt much the same way.
Sunni -- 5 for $1!! What a great price.
Sue -- Their music has stood the test of time.
Lee
I'm open to almost all genres. Simon and Garfunkel have such a soft, yet powerful sound.
ReplyDeleteCarrie~Anne at That Dizzy Chick
What a great theme! I love memoir writing, both reading other people's and writing my own. We learn so much about ourselves as we write. Music.. yes, it brings back memories and is associated with so many events in our lives. I really like how your stories have evolved from a song.
ReplyDeleteLove Simon and Garfunkel, and yes, the words Paul Simon writes are poetry.
ReplyDeleteWe never had the money to join book or record clubs, and I was in my mid-twenties before I bought my first album - by then it was a cassette tape, one by Nana Mouskouri.
I love your memoir entries based on songs - it is something I have intended to do for a long time. Perhaps this will get me going.