Baby Boomers, in case you've never heard of us, are folks that were born betweeb 1946 and 1964. My own family of origin happens to have five baby boomers: myself, born in 1948, a sister born in 1950, a brother born in 1952, a sister born in 1955 and a sister born in 1960. We all love music and grew up with radios, hifi's and finally stereo's blaring. Even though we were preacher's kids we loved the popular music of our day. I have fond memories of my sister and me standing on the sidewalk outside our home, holding sticks as pretend microphones and singing "Standing on the Sidewalk, Watching all the Girls Go By."
When I was about six years old I started hearing about Elvis. Now my Daddy was a preacher and in S.C. in the mid-50's, Elvis was definitely not someone my parents wanted me listening to. I remember hearing "Jailhouse Rock" and "Blue Suede Shoes" on the radio at a neighbor's house and feeling scandalized but I wasn't sure why.
I turned 13 in 1961 and vividly remember listening to the Beatles sing "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." I thought their music was wonderful and to my surprise, my parents let me stay home from church one Sunday night to watch the Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan. I was thrilled! I loved all the Beatles music as well as the Motown groups and most of the British invasion groups like Herman's Hermits and the Dave Clark Five. I loved Petula Clarkand Dusty Springfield and probably day-dreamed that one day I might have a group of my own. Instead, in real life, I turned to classical music and practiced scales and Beethoven sonatas for hours a day. Still, while a piano major in college, I fell in love with the music of Elton John and Cat Stevens. I bought a book of Elton's top hits to play on the piano when my professor wasn't around and it brought me wicked good fun!
In 1971 I got married. You can see the wedding picture on my site http://www.babyboomerarticles.com. My husband and I both loved the music of Elton John and soon I discovered Billy Joel, the piano man, and so many others. Every decade for the boomers has had so many memorable hits. Do you remember the first time you heard "Afternoon Delight"? I do and just hearing a couple of bars of any of the above songs takes me instantly to another time and place. Music is magical! Music is mystical! Music is better than a plane ticket for taking you to another time and place when life was simpler and teenagers were in love. Let's always remember this music and it's messages of "Give Peace a Chance," "Breaking Up is Hard to do," "Up, Up and Away!"
Merry Christmas from Washington, D.C. where I'm spending the holidays with my daughter and son-in-law. We've been having a wonderful time and have done the usual sight-seeing plus concerts at the National Cathedral and awesome meals in great restaurants as well as delicious home-cooking!!
As my readers surely know by now, I am a great believer in the benefits of music through headphones during surgery. As a matter of fact I now have a patent pending on headphones that will deliver the perfect music to the patient before, during, and after surgery.
Growing up in S.C. in the 50's afforded me loads of opportunities to listen to music. My father was a Methodist minister and all five kids were at church every time the doors opened. I guess that church music was the first music that I really loved and that made me feel safe, secure, and loved. I loved singing hymns out in the congregation and I loved hearing the choir sing each Sunday and the organist playing her preludes and postludes. When I was about in fifth grade, they started a junior choir and I thought that was heavenly! Of course I was already taking piano lessons when we moved to Clemson in 1957 and I continued those in Clemson.
