Monday, August 27, 2012

Audible Tattoo

Have you ever had a song to stick in your mind like an audible tattoo? 

The other morning when I stepped out to feed the chickens, the grass was so thick with dew that my shoes looked as if I’d been wading in a creek. After filling the feeders with cracked corn and laying mash, I walked over to the fence to survey the morning sky. 

I stood there a long time lost in thought when I realized I was humming the tune to “California Dreamin’.” I hummed or whistled it all day long.

Just thinking about that song is like stepping into a time machine with the dial set to August 1967. 

I was 16 the first time I heard the Mamas and Papas do that song. We didn’t have a record player then, but my sister had a Sylvania transistor radio the size of a brick and the color of the setting sun. It had a tan leather carrying case with a long strap so you could carry it over your shoulder.

She let me listen to it one night in the summer of 1967. I laid down that night with the radio on my pillow. It was turned down low so not to disturb the family, but “California Dreamin’” came pouring through that tiny speaker loud and clear.

I was not a rebellious kid, but hearing that song made me want to pack my belongings into a bag and hit the road for San Francisco.

Jilda said she was 15 when she bought her first copy of that record. She played it so much the needle of her phonograph practically wore grooves through the vinyl. 

By the time we married in 1974, it had been played so many times I think I could have seen through it had I held it up to a decent light.

Fast forward to this past week. Our yoga buddy Janie bought an old CD by the Mamas and Papas at a yard sale. She brought it to class on Monday night and gave it to Jilda as a gift.

On the way home, my spouse put the CD in her player and jacked up the volume so loud my nose bled. 

“All the leaves are brown, Leaves are brown, And the sky is gray, the sky is gray” 

According to Rolling Stone Magazine, “California Dreamin’” is one of the most popular songs of all time. So it would seem a lot of people had the same reaction to it as I did.

It’s a mystery to me why some music resonates and other music is forgotten quicker than the junk mail that comes in the mornings. 

“California Dreamin’” happened to come along during a time in my young life when I was full of expectation and angst about what I wanted to do with my future. 

I knew I wanted to go places and do things that were well beyond the vision of the future my mom and dad shared for me.

They wanted me to go to school, find a job, get married and buy a house nearby. A yard full of grandkids would have been icing on the cake. 

But at 16, I wanted to do something remarkable. Those were the thoughts tumbling through my head on that warm summer night when I heard “California Dreamin.’” 

The song became a part of my life story. That’s why I still carry it with me after all these years.

6 comments:

  1. So I will now close my eyes and go to sleep singing California Dreamin. Thank you. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think that song resonates with a lot of people. It's part of the soundtrack of my life. It's haunting and full of longing - the way a lot of us felt back then. It's absolutely genius.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it's more than the words. It's those beautiful harmonies. I wouldn't want to hear anyone sing that song except Denny, John, Cass, and Michelle.

    Love,
    Janie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Now that song is going round my head!!! Thank you!! LOL! take care
    x

    ReplyDelete
  5. That was certainly a very popular song esp at school. We sang it in our choir.
    We sure had great stuff back then and no swear words.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This morning I had the "hamster dance" tattooed into my brain. Thank God that's not my inner anthem. :)

    ReplyDelete

Please consider sharing

Email Signup Form

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required