New Wave Outpost Forum

My earliest recollection of music.

I would like to say 1964 when the Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan Show which means I was almost 3 years old. I think I remember all the hoopla in the house (older sister and aunts and mother) but it may be that I heard the story so many times from my aunts that I think I remember them on the show.

I’ll go with 1968, The White Album and the song Revolution # 9. My father bought the LP when it came out and I was intrigued by that song. It was nothing like I had ever heard. I was 7 so I was in 2nd grade and I remember trying to get my friends to listen to it but they just didn’t get it. I felt as though I found something that nobody knew about. I remember getting my older sister to call up a radio station and request it but nobody would play it. That further cemented the thought that I found something different. I’m sure that Revolution # 9 influenced what I listen to to this day.

Good question. I remember my uncle listening to The Beatles in the late 60's - I would have been 4 or 5. About that time my parents bought me a record player and a few 45s. I had "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window" and a single with songs about Babar the elephant including one whose lyrics still stick with me:

Have you ever lost and elephant?
It's really quite a silly thing to do
But there's one thing even sillier
And that is losing two.
And that's what we have done today
Arthur and Celeste have run away
Their mothers cry and worry so
Oh where oh where can our elephants be?

I'd love an mp3 of that one - it would take me way back.

There's not much else that I remember from the radio from early childhood enough to identify it: Herb Alpert, Neil Diamond, Simon & Garfunkle... I don't know what (if anything) my parents listened to when I was a young child.

good topic.
For me, it'd be the [i]Yellow Submarine[/i] album. That's when I, at around 5 or 6 years of age, became conscious of this thing called music. The trippy visuals helped; all those bright swirling yellows appealed to a child like me. The album was fairly sing-songy, and I was interested, albeit in a loose, vague sort of way.
After we moved to the U.S., when I was 7 or 8, my parents got me an 8-track and a Shaun Cassidy tape (which I loved) and a Bay City Rollers tape (which I couldn't get into at all). I stayed stuck in that milieu for quite some time until [i]Saturday Night Fever[/i] and [i]Grease[/i] came along.

I can't remember exactly the earliest but I'm still haunted by melodies and lyrics from the 70's like:

"I've got a brand new pair of rollerskates, you've got a brand new key",
"if I could save time in a bottle",
"bad, bad, leroy brown",
"it's saturday night and I ain't got no money, I got no money 'cause I just got paid",
"up, up and away, in my beautiful, my beautiful baloon",

not to mention my Dad's Roger Whitaker collection.

[quote][i]Originally posted by zill[/i]
<br>I can't remember exactly the earliest but I'm still haunted by melodies and lyrics from the 70's like:

"I've got a brand new pair of rollerskates, you've got a brand new key",
"if I could save time in a bottle",
"bad, bad, leroy brown",
"it's saturday night and I ain't got no money, I got no money 'cause I just got paid",
"up, up and away, in my beautiful, my beautiful baloon",

not to mention my Dad's Roger Whitaker collection.
[/quote]

All those lyrics remind me of the summer and my Panasonic "ball" AM radio....here comes some more...."in the year 2525", "killing me softly.....". What I would give to be a kid again.

Max said: I’m sure that Revolution # 9 influenced what I listen to to this day.

Knowing your taste in music a little, I bet it did. It definitely influenced mine too. I was already listening to odd things like Silver Apples, Mandrake Memorial and John Cage and it seemed so cool that I was hearing stuff related to that on a popular band's album.

But back to the topic:

The first tune I remember being aware of was Waltzing Matilda, the Aussie folk tune. It was played often on the radio station my mother listened to. I'm guessing I was 4 years old.

My first rock leaning memories are of Gene Pitney.

world of noise

[quote][i]Originally posted by SynthesizerMan[/i]
<br>Max said: I’m sure that Revolution # 9 influenced what I listen to to this day.

Knowing your taste in music a little, I bet it did. It definitely influenced mine too. I was already listening to odd things like Silver Apples, Mandrake Memorial and John Cage and it seemed so cool that I was hearing stuff related to that on a popular band's album.

But back to the topic:

The first tune I remember being aware of was Waltzing Matilda, the Aussie folk tune. It was played often on the radio station my mother listened to. I'm guessing I was 4 years old.

My first rock leaning memories are of Gene Pitney.

world of noise
[/quote]


Haven't got to the Joe Byrd yet....you got me on a Klaus Schulze kick right now! Thanks much!

[quote][i]Originally posted by Max Murdoc[/i]
<br>
you got me on a Klaus Schulze kick right now! Thanks much!
[/quote]

A little Klaus can be a dangerous thing!

world of noise

I had no choice but listen to a lot of country music courtesy of my father in the car. Going back to about 3 or 4 years old I do recall having the Snoopy Vs The Red Baron album by the Royal Guardsman.

My father's Johnny Cash albums, especially Live at Folsom Prison. My father played the harmonica, and would often play "Orange Blossom Special." I didn't get the Man in Black thing till much later.

Also, I remember being severely disappointed when I played one of my parents albums that had a Warner Bros. label on it, and it wasn't funny at all. The Warner Bros. logo appeared at the beginning of every Looney Tunes cartoon, and so in my mind, it was supposed to be a Bugs Bunny record, or something.

[quote][i]Originally posted by plagiarism[/i]
<br>
Also, I remember being severely disappointed when I played one of my parents albums that had a Warner Bros. label on it, and it wasn't funny at all. The Warner Bros. logo appeared at the beginning of every Looney Tunes cartoon, and so in my mind, it was supposed to be a Bugs Bunny record, or something.
[/quote]

That is hilarious!

It reminds me that somewhere I have a Christmas card from Bob Merlis at Warner Bros. that features Bugs and the note says something about thanking us for allowing them to promote to us without shame or mercy or some such thing.


world of noise

Ricki Tikki Tavi . . . the mongoose is gone. (by Bob Dylan)--my parents played that all the time when I was little. The first 45 I owned was Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey by Paul and Linda McCartney--the 45 had the big apple picture on it--I should've left it in its sleeve, preserved it, and made a bundle on it--but I was 5 then, and of course played it until it was scratched and later accidently broke it.

Nice topic!

My mother listened to a lot of Elvis, but I was never very connected to it, so I don't really have a lot of recollections of it other than "Old Shep" which traumatized me to no end. Elvis kind of weirded me out as a kid - not sure why.

My first real recollections are the Mitch Miller & the Gang Christmas Album which my mom played every year over & over. I still play it a lot. I remember it had a gatefold sleeve with multiple lyric sheets inside. Mitch was on the cover wearing a santa hat & winking. I'll have to dig that out, she gave it to me a few years ago.

When I was really little, I used to rifle through my grandparents records & play Homer & Jethro albums - anyone remember them? I don't think I understood the humor at all, but something made me like them.

The first song I recall getting really hooked on was Skeeter Davis' "End of the World" which I thought was the most heartbreaking, tragic, monumental thing I ever heard. I must have been 5 at the time & clearly had no clue about anything.

"Arirang", a Korean folk song. Actually THE Korean folk song. You can't escape it over there. I distinctly remember picnics when everyone would do group singalongs. I was probably 3-4 years old. I rarely hear it now, but it still gives me goosebumps.

"76 Trombones make the big parade....."