Music as Muse

It seems to me that you know its summer when...there is marriage of various elements that blend together to show us that the season is in full swing-a cold, chilled pitcher of margaritas, the constant droning of fans, Shorts & Capri pants appear everywhere as do flip flops, and then there is great seasonal music. Remember those songs that just naturally make you of think hot weather? The relationship individual melodies have to certain events, especially when related to summer, I think can be described as vivid brightly colored ribbons that connect the past to the present. Some of my most memorable tunes and moments are:

One Stormy Night-A Dream (Mystic Moods Orchestra) I came onto the world scene in 1963 and my brother in 1965. Sometime during the summer of 1966 friends visited our family home for the evening wherein my father and his friend decided to play a joke on the entire neighbourhood. My Dad had quite a stereo system in those days and the two of them dragged the entire unit so that it was sitting in the living room windows. Dad hooked up another large auxilary speaker & placed it in behind the screen door. It was a not a cloud in the sky, hot, and still evening around dusk. My Dad turned his speakers up to full volume and played the huge clap of thunder that started the record. Neighbours came out of their houses and congregated in the street looking heavenward. I remember my dad & his friend howling and rolling around the living room with laughter. Then they played the rest of the album, much more quietly of course and my brother and I got to eat ice cream with our friends!

Born Free (Andy Williams) Our local Drive-in had a family night featuring the movie Born Free. It's such a vivid event for me because it was so strange that my three year old brother and I were allowed to go outside in our PJ's. Mom packed up the car with our pillows and blankets and we drove to the site. We found out we weren't the only kids dressed for bed when we went to play on the swings and merry-go-round that sat beneath the big screen. The smell of popcorn permeated the air and I remember after we got back to the car leaning over the back seat to reach the golden kernals in bag sitting between my parents. I don't remember much about the movie but I know I asked my mom & dad a lot of questions. At some point I must have gotten tired because I laid down with my feet on the window and let the breeze caress my toes until I quite obviously fell asleep.

Downtown (Petula Clark) At five or six life was pretty simple. My main focus was figuring out how I could distract my parents so that I didn't have to go to bed so early and wondering if I could really swing high enough to go over the bar. One morning while mom was getting me a snack I got down on the linoleum in the kitchen of our Blue "Barn" 1915 Arts & Crafts house (I didn't know that was what it was called then). The announcer on the radio station introduced the song while I was starring at the multi-colored dots on the floor. I rolled from my belly to my back revelling in the coolness of the hard floor and decided that one day I would grow up to be big and live Downtown in an apartment.

Am I Losing You, Four Walls, Stand at Your Window (Jim Reeves) It was bed time. After my bath and prayer, I jumped into the clean, crisp sheets on the bed in my upstairs attic room. I could hear my parents talking downstairs and knew that they were sitting down for a glass of wine and some shrimp cocktail. My Dad turned on the stereo and put a Jim Reeves album on to play. As the summer evening twilight deepened I watched the colours of my purple and pink ballerina wallpaper soften and blur and eventually it was so dark that I could see nothing much at all. Still, I laid there awake for a very long time because I didn't want to miss even one note of Jim's rich, mellow voice.

Amazing Grace (Bagpipes) We were staying at our family cottage on the lake in Fort Qu'appelle, Saskatchewan during the summer I was eight. I don't know what happened every year on the other side of the lake but each day there started and ended with a bagpipe serenade. One morning I got up just before sunrise and wandered onto the porch with my favorite book. As I stepped out onto the screened porch the notes of Amazing Grace floated across the waves and I watched the sun grow from a spark to its full brilliance. There have only been one or two moments in my lifetime that were as peaceful and as beautiful as those few minutes when I stood there bathed in sunshine listening to that melody. It is no wonder that I still love to hear the "pipes".

Taking Care of Business (Bachman Turner Overdrive) It was the summer I was thirteen. Once the late 1960's hit and modern music went "downhill" to quote my Dad, my parents didn't often listen or let me listen to the radio. I was therefore brought up on their extensive record collection. My favorite singers were Elvis, Paul Anka, Patti Page, Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves. Friends visited us that summer and they had a family band modeled after KiSS. I will never forget sitting with those three teenagers in their fifth wheel trailer and looking at their disbelieving faces when I told them that I didn't know who BTO or KiSS was. The next couple of hours and days were pretty mind-blowing--they opened an entirely new world to me and they started with "Taking Care of Business"!

Afternoon Delight (Starland Vocal Band) My family was at the beach the summer of 1976 and I had my trusty yellow transistor radio blaring. Afternoon delight came on and when I expressed how much I loved the song my father made me shut it off because the words were so graphic and certainly not appropriate for tender ears. What was the world coming too!

Sister Golden Hair (America) My brother, cousin and I were in the backyard listening to this on the radio seeing how many juicy, succulent cherries from our tree we could each stuff into our mouths! At 14 I was on the cusp of adulthood but summer was a great opportunity to be a kid!

Another One Bites the Dust (Queen) This song was hitting the charts during my later teens, those years I affectionately call "my biker years". After my wake-up call to "modern" music I wasted no effort in making up for lost time in discovering the hits of the 70's and then moving on to hard rock groups like Molly Hatchet, AC/DC, and Iron Maiden. There's nothing like trying to balance a shrieking boom box ghetto blaster on your lap while sitting on the back of a motorbike and hanging on for dear life. Whenever I hear this song I get a really strong urge to dress in a leather jacket, skin-tight jeans, high heels, big hoop earrings, then line my eyes with black eyeliner & find a bike to hop on to. Not a pretty picture at 46...

Footloose (Soundtrack) We had celebrated our one year anniversary in the spring of 1984 and that summer we went to the drive-in theatre in Cache Creek to see the latest movie, Footloose. We loved it so much that the next morning I took the day off and drove the hour to Kamloops to do some shopping. I picked up the soundtrack and a Madonna album. I remember going top speed and bouncing away to Footloose in my seat as I drove back home on the hot, desert road!

Kokomo (Beach Boys) It was 1990, our oldest daughter, Brenna, was two and I remember holding her and dancing to this on many summer evenings until she was drowsy and ready for a bedtime bath. She died in 1997 and there are occasionally times that come out of the blue when both my heart and my arms ache when I hear this--precious, precious memories of happy times.

SClub Party (SClub7) Our house was cool the summer of 2001 because of the huge tree in our back yard. Being cool gave us energy for important things like watching our youngest daughter, Keeley, dance the routine she learned for this song in school over and over again. What a performer!

Truly, Madly, Deeply (Savage Garden) We moved through the late 1990's and into the new millennium and with that came new technology. We got our first CD player. We listened to NSync, 98 degrees, Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, Shania Twain, Lou Bega, and The Mavericks. I will never forget dancing with Keeley to Truly, Madly, Deeply in the living room when our brand new dog jumped up and started dancing with us. We named her Truly of course!

Pon de Replay (Rihanna) Pon de What? Since 2005 I've been trying to figure out the name of that song--my age must be telling. Keeley introduced me to it and we listened to it in the car, on her mp3 player (new technology again) and danced to it while doing housework all summer long.

New Soul (Yael Naim) While in France during spring 2008 we stopped at a large Hyper-Marche to pick up some CD's. Keeley had a school assignment to bring back whatever the latest French music teenagers were listening to. We picked up a CD of the latest hits and while we were driving through the countryside past vineyards and lavender fields New Soul came on and we were all hooked. We must've played it ten times in a row and of course we sang it at the top of our lungs with the windows down. Every time I hear the song now I am transported back to Provence and I swear I can smell lavender and wild rosemary.

Banana Pancakes (Jack Johnson) During summer vacation 2008 Keeley went on YouTube and found a guy who gave guitar lessons. We were totally amazed because within just few tries she was playing Banana Pancakes. She is becoming more accomplished every day and has never looked back!

Say Hey-I love You (Michael Franty) This is new guy-someone I've never heard of before but the song is so catchy that we've been listening to it several times each day for the past few days-there's nothing like a Caribbean beat to get you in the mood for summer!

So now you have a snapshot of some of the summer music in my life....amazingly its a very lopsided view of my music tastes-there are so many more moments that I've shared with some of my favorite artists like Diana Krall, Michael Buble, The Mavericks, Prairie Oyster, Blue Rodeo, Joe Nichols, (I'm a big country fan & jazz in case you haven't figured that out yet), Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, George Michaels, Loverboy, Trooper, Men without Hats, Alan Jackson, Moody Blues, The Beatles, Elvis, Doc Walker, Neil Diamond, Paul Brandt, Classical-Vivaldi, Pachabel's Cannon, etc, etc...

It would certainly take a very long chronicle to capture all of those treasured moments where my life has been affected by or has associated with certain pieces of music. I hope you too have many happy memories of summer melodies!

Salynne©June (Summer) 2009