What it was like to be 18!

I have been tagged again this time by no less than Ipanema a blogger, whom I got to know thru Doc Emer. This tag is another one of those music thingies going around blogs. I am supposed to remember the songs when I was 18 years old and turn nostalgic over them. The rules can be seen here. I am a bit hesitant doing this tag at first as the young people reading this blog may not be able to relate. But then, I do have readers who may be able to and even kind of reminisce after seeing the songs that I included here. So, what the heck? Here goes.

I have grown to a family of music lovers. I have been exposed to different types of music early in my life that the music library in my head spans several generations. Should I say circa 1920's to the present. From my father, I learned to listen to classical music, be fascinated with the guitar as an instrument; from my mother, I inherited my love for the kundiman which she sang in radio programs with her sister when they were younger; my brothers and sisters who influenced me to listen to rock and roll; and now, my children who keeps me abreast with the latest tunes.

But of course, the most memorable music for me would be the music of my teens, the 70's. As I read the rules in Ipanema's blog, I got confused what songs were the hits during that time when I turned 18. I googled it and some of the songs that I remember that made it to the charts were the following as listed here

That's the Way of the World

Shining Star - Earth, Wind and Fire

The Way We Were/Try to Remember - Gladys Knight and the Pips

Black Water - Doobie Brothers

They Just Can't Stop It (Games People Play) - The Spinners

Some Kind of Wonderful - Grandfunk Railroad

At Seventeen - Janis Ian

Lonely People - America

Poetry Man - Phoebe Snow

You are so Beautiful - Joe Cocker

Laughter in the Rain - Neil Sedaka

ONe of these Nights - The Eagles

Lady Marmalade - Labelle

How Sweet It Is - James Taylor

Midnight Blue - Melissa Manchester

Love will Keep Us Together - Captain and Tennille

Okay, I admit, these are not the songs that I want to talk about, though. The songs I'd rather talk about are the ones that inspired me the most. The problem is that I am not sure if they aired when I turned 18. The sure thing about it is that they were heard in the airwaves during the 70's. Anyway, first off in the list is Les Crane's rendition of Max Ehrmann's "The Desiderata". Just the first note of the lady singer singing gives me goosebumps. I think the fact that it has been rumored that authorship of this poem was unknown and that it was just found in St. Paul's Cathedral made it very popular. I have been so moved by the poem that I would make a
translation of it when I began blogging which my friend Batjay did a voice over and another friend, award winning blogger toni featured anew.

Next ones are kind of oxymorons,if there is such a thing, in music.

The first is Tom Clay's - "What the World Needs Now & Abraham, Martin and John". No, this is not really a song but a montage of songs and news items. It starts with Tom Clay asking his daughter about hatred, bigotry, prejudice, which the child, innocent as she is, answers "I do not know..." Then enters Burt Bacharach's "What the World Needs Now" amid sounds of soldiers preparing for Vietnam, a coverage of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and his brother Bobby, MArtin Luther King and another Kennedy , tearfully giving a eulogy for his brother. The montage ends from where it started. HOw I wish I can share with you the MP3 my new found online friend Gilbert sent me.

The next one is Simon and Garfunke's "Silent NIght/7:00 o'clock new". This song starts softly with Silent NIght with an overdub of the 7:00 o'clock news. As the song gets louder, the news gets even louder and it suddenly hits the listener that the news. You can guess what the news is about.

The last one is not from the 70's. It came out during the Woodstock era so that would be about 1969. However, I first heard it during the 70's ergo, I'm including it to the list. I'm talking about Country Joe and the Fish's I-feel-like-I'm-fixin'-To-Die". This is a protest song, as was the whole rap Woodstock is all about, about the US sending its young men to Vietnam. In this song I saw how to make a protest without the flair of a hothead but as pompous just the same.

So, there. Hope these songs brought back memories to you, too.