When I was a kid, I grew up listening to many genres of music. Of course, there was my father’s swing and jazz music that I was forced fed while I was living in the house. You know, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey. They had their own beat. My father would be reading the paper and his leg would be moving in time with that sound. To him, there was nothing else that was worth a listen. He couldn’t understand why “kids today” would listen to that junk.
My brother is four years older than me. But when I was a kid four years might as well have been a decade as the changes in music were coming fast. My brother was into CCR or for you young ones out there, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cream, Deep Purple and so on. I liked a lot of it but didn’t understand the meanings of the songs until I got older. When I was in 6th grade we had to bring a song in class that we liked. Kids brought in songs like Sugar Sugar or Knock Three Times. I brought in Running Through the Jungle by CCR. When Mr. Carr heard the song, he looked at me and then the other teachers and told me my choice was a little mature for the 6th grade. I was totally baffled because I thought it was a song about this Tarzan like dude swinging and running through the jungle. It was a few years later when I found out it was about Vietnam.
Now my older sister and I are considered Irish twins. For the most part, we liked the same types of music. Before high school we listened to the Moody Blues, Beach Boys and so on. But when I got to high school, I really got into a variety of genres of rock. Although I still liked the stuff when I was younger, I got into bands like Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Led Zeppelin and Boston. But I also got into a lot of the story telling singers like Harry Chapin and Gordon Lightfoot. As I have gotten older my music tastes have broadened tremendously.
I collect record albums and CD’s. To date I probably own close to 1,000 records and 300 CD’s. I have a room in my house that is set up just for music. I can’t tell you how much I love just sitting and listening. When the song is right and it just hits me in a way that tugs those emotional string, it can put me in another place.
That brings me to the point I wanted to make. About three months ago I started to take guitar lessons. Now as you all know I’m not the quickest when it comes to learning new things. But if I am to be honest, I’m making progress. Today for instance, I believe I hit that emotional string for my instructor that I eluded to earlier. He started crying and then ran out the door pulling lumps of hair out of his head. I’m telling you that I am truly a undiscovered talent!!