Cap in Hand

I know I’ve told you before about how certain music reminds me of spans of events. But I was listening to Sunshine on Leith, that is, the Proclaimers, on my iPod and it brought me back to a different kind of memory. There are certain collections of music that remind me of my parents and my childhood.

I associate Sunshine on Leith with driving with my dad in his green Mazda pick-up, and I think there was also another Proclaimers album in the mix there. I think of the rents when I hear the Beach Boys because they have some of those records (like vinyl old-school records). Patsy Cline is totally my mom, walking after midnight, in the moonlight, just waiting for you.

A lot of that childhood music is associated with the vinyl collection circulating through the ol’ turntable. Like Boney M and the valuable lesson in Russian history (“Ra-ra-rasputin, lover of the Russian queen”) and Puff the Magic Dragon.

A lot of musicals also come to mind, particularly Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat and Cats since my mom took us to those when we were kids. All very good soundtracks if you ask me. And for anyone who maintains that Cats is stupid, you probably don’t even know that the song lyrics are from T. S. Eliot poems and that T. S. Eliot wrote “The Hollow Men.” Yeah. Think about it. No, YOU think about it.

I know we probably had some kid music rolling around as well, but mostly what I remember is from the TV shows, like Skinamarink and some Fred Penner classics.

But, when I was like 10 or something my cousins gave me this tape called “Cool Jammings.” This must have been my first experience with ‘real’ music, all contemporary and mainstream and everything. It was a collection of beach and summer related songs. These included Stir it Up, Kokomo, Hands up (give me your heart, give me give me your heart, give me give me), Montego Bay, The Tide is High (and I’m moving on, you’re gonna be my number one), Red Red Wine, and many other timeless classics. I didn’t forget much about that tape, especially the fact that my older brother ‘hid’ it from me. I’m sure his reasoning was that he needed to constantly assert his eldest sibling-ness. I think he threw it out because I searched the house for it and it was NOWHERE. Jerk face. Yeah, you heard me. I called you a jerk face (that was just to my brother).

Anyway, what music reminds you of your parents? Anything hilariously embarrassing? I hope so.