Music of My Life Is A Spinning Round

Several years ago, I and other family members got my Dad a record player.  It's not a real antique, but an antique replica.  Bit it plays well.  My son Doug got my Dad some swing and jazz records and they enjoyed playing it.

When my father passed last month, and my sister and I had to clean out his apartment, there were not many possessions left.  My father had been shedding things for a number of years now.  I did get all his stories, which I will continue to post on this blog, and to gather in a story format.  But there was also the record player.

I did not feel like I could let it go.  There was also a small collection of albums that went with it.  These included the swing and jazz Doug had gotten him, but some records he had held for a long time.  There were three albums related to All In The Family.  There were more comedy albums, including Alan Sherman and The Watergate Comedy Hour.  There were some records that dated back to the forties, playing hits from that time, and spoken record albums, of speeches by John F. Kennedy and Franklin D Roosevelt.

And there were several records from a set called Reader's Digest: Down Memory lane.  It was a ten record set that featured an album or two of music for each decade, starting with the 1890s.  I remember listening to those as a kid, almost thinking I was a time traveler.  I loved their evocation of different time periods.  That set was one of the major reasons my love of music is eclectic and not confined to one time period.  While my peers were listening to Bubblegum Top 40, I was hitting the nineteen forties with Rum and Coca -Cola, Mona Lisa , Beat me Daddy, Eight To the Bar and On A slow Boat to China.

Shown above is a Linda Rondstadt album I found at an antique store last weekend.  She is an amazing artist, and I remember playing her quite often in college.  And she was very attractive.  I couldn't help but notice that she looked a little bit like Alison.  Which might explain some things.

I have put it in our den, my writing room, and it is a joy to have those delightful sounds as background to my writing,  It's like a magic teleporter,  taking me back to old records and sounds, and brings back fond memories of my father.

Let me close my eyes and listen.  I think I'm going to head on to the thirties, and maybe take a detour at the Blue Bayou.