On My Mind: Reeling in the Memories

Turn up the volume, close your eyes
and let the music take over your soul.

This past Saturday night when I was cooking dinner, I had Pandora programmed to play my favorite cooking music which is often a mix of The Eagles, Bob Seger, Jimi Hendrix, and Crosby, Still, Nash & Young. I can sing Hotel California, Night Moves, All Along the Watchtower, and Suite Judy Blue Eyes with the best of them. Besides knowing every word, every pause, every tone – this music, along with a whole bunch of others from the 60’s and 70’s, is my music. It’s the soundtrack of my youth and young adulthood.

When you listen to a Classic Rock station, THIS is the music they are playing. Why? Because it’s classic. Take that Justin Bieber and the rest of your genre.

Call me an old fogey, but this music has stuck with me. Grand Funk, Three Dog Night, and The Guess Who can transport me back to the Student Union Café at college. The Doobie Brothers send me right back to the dance floor at Martin’s Garage, a local bar/dance place where I celebrated my twenty-first birthday my senior year and bought my first legal drink. These bands and their songs were the soundtrack to many trips to Virginia Beach with friends.

With the way all of these memories come flooding back, I often hope that when I get older and perhaps am sitting in a wheel chair in a nursing home, some kind person will put on a little Creedance Clearwater Revival, The Who, or The Doors just to see if I have a response. I bet I will.

Just this month, we’ve lost two rock icons – David Bowie and Glenn Frey. When I hear Let’s Dance or Tequila Sunrise, I’ll smile and be grateful for their talent and what they have shared with gazillions of fans over the years. They will rock on for a long time.

Am I being too sentimental or morose? Nah. Having contemporaries pass is just a reminder that we don’t have all the time in the world. The days are getting shorter for some of us. We can either sit around and worry about that or we can get out there and savor every moment we have and listen to the music that makes us happy.

That’s what I’m doing… making new memories and enjoying the best of the old.

I know it’s only rock and roll, but I like it.