Seminal Sounds: A Personal History
05/04/2020
Around March/April 2017 I created a YouTube playlist of pieces of music I felt marked particular stages of my life.
At the time, users could customise a playlist by clicking on each entry in the list to get a drop-down menu with an option to add a small 150 character text comment. As I said in my description header for the playlist, these "could be seen as txts from the past about my musical life".
Sadly, it now seems YouTube has removed visibility of the comments for other than the account holder. (09/03/23 Removed and erased by YT entirely.) Now viewers cannot see all my carefully compressed pithy comments, and can have no idea why each item was included in the playlist. Nice one, thanks again for nothing, Google.
I decided a Blog could achieve the same function; something which previously seemed pointless, when I would have been able to just embed the playlist.
Please find below a re-creation of the playlist, with the comments now no longer limited to 150 charcters, but still just short pieces to explain their significance to me.
At the time, users could customise a playlist by clicking on each entry in the list to get a drop-down menu with an option to add a small 150 character text comment. As I said in my description header for the playlist, these "could be seen as txts from the past about my musical life".
Sadly, it now seems YouTube has removed visibility of the comments for other than the account holder. (09/03/23 Removed and erased by YT entirely.) Now viewers cannot see all my carefully compressed pithy comments, and can have no idea why each item was included in the playlist. Nice one, thanks again for nothing, Google.
I decided a Blog could achieve the same function; something which previously seemed pointless, when I would have been able to just embed the playlist.
Please find below a re-creation of the playlist, with the comments now no longer limited to 150 charcters, but still just short pieces to explain their significance to me.
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Patti Page - Cross Over the Bridge (1954)
1955? Earliest song from the radio I remember. Definitely pre-school. 1954 release but probably played later in NZ. I have no memory of knowing what it was about, just the title & the brassy music. |
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Dany Rosevear - My Pigeon House - a goodnight song
1956-57 At Primary School, on Parent's Day we did this action song, walking in a circle with hand movements & lying down at the end. (Took me a while to find this, with only vague memories of "Coo-Roo" to go on!) Ref. "Mussi Den" & Elvis. |
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Sergei Prokofiev - The Troika portion of the Lieutenant Kije Suite written for the 1934 Soviet film Lieutenant Kije.
Capitol Records - 45 CK 043 (1954) 1957-1960 This was used in "Diana and the Golden Apples". It was exciting and emotional to me. On the radio, the Children's Story program, listened every Sunday morning. |
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Don Gibson - Oh Lonesome Me (1958)
1958-59 Staying away from home at my Maternal Cousins', I hear this and it hits home because I'm feeling homesick. |
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The Thunderer - US Army Ceremonial Band (John Philip Sousa)
1957-60 This was a March played during Assembly, Primary School Years 3 to 6, in the playground, and as we left for our classes. (I found this from the title I recall seeing on the 78 rpm record.) |
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Rusty Draper - Freight Train (1957)
1960-61? Gymnasium Club end-of-year event. I remember that hearing this gave me a feeling of the mystery of the big wide world I still knew so little of. |
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Bert Kaempfert - Wonderland by Night (1961)
1961 Probably for the first time I express my own taste. I bravely remark to my parents that I like this. They were Big Band fans, I don't recall what they said. |
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The Beatles - Please Please Me (1963)
1963 I stay with my Second Cousins, a bit older than me, they have this single, play it continuously on auto-repeat all day. |
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Herma Keil & The Keil Isles - If You Wanna Be Happy (1963)
(Update 06/03/2024 - Now unavailable on YT, replaced with Jimmy Soul version.) 1963 I hear this cover at the Carnival at Western Springs, it gives me funny ideas about mate selection, LOL! (Cover of USA #1 by Jimmy Soul.) Herma Keil and (originally his brothers) The Keil Isles were from Samoa and became big in NZ. Record Co's often released local covers before/instead of the USA/UK releases.) p.s. 19/07/23 Adapted from a calypso classic by Roaring Lion (from Trinidad), "Ugly Woman." The dialog at the end of the song is also "adapted" from Bo Diddley's "Say Man" where Bo and his sidekick Jerome Green trade insults. |
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Peter, Paul & Mary - There Is a Ship (1964)
1965 I begin playing the guitar. A school-mate gives up trying to be Folky and for NZ$4 sells me his acoustic guitar, cardboard case, capo, pitch-pipe, 17 page tutorial ( © 1938! ) & some music sheets which included this song. I couldn't read music but the Baptist Church's "Young People's Fellowship" I went to on Saturday nights were big on Folk Music, so I knew the tune. I just learned the chord diagrams. I have played guitar ever since. |
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Small Faces - Sha La La La Lee (1966)
1966 I hear this loud at a birthday do at my Second Cousins' place. Become more interested in Rock & Pop. By September I am listing the Top 20 on paper off the radio every week. See Blog entry New Zealand Top 20 - 15 September 1966 |
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The Who - I'm a Boy (1966)
1966 I buy my first 45 rpm single. I would have got the money from my paper round, I got up at 05:15 Mon-Sat. Charted around October. |
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Judy Collins - Albatross (1967)
1967-68 A school-mate loans me the album. Anticipating Folk music, I discover non-rock quality recording and orchestration, and a romanticism & feminine sensibility I find appealing. |
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The Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man (1965)
1969 I buy my first LP. I can afford it as I am now working. It is already old, I think I was so ignorant I didn't have the confidence to buy a new release I didn't know enough about. |
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Led Zeppelin - You Shook Me (1969)
1969 I hear Led Zeppelin over the phone from another school-mate's Dad's stereo. Went to buy it, the persons in front of and behind me both bought it as well! |
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Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Helpless
1970 An old villa with bay windows was the perfect place to listen to this. A flatmate's LP. I didn't buy it until years later. |
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Quicksilver Messenger Service - Just for Love (1970)
1971 I meet my future wife, from the flat next door. This was "Our Song". |
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Led Zeppelin - The Battle of Evermore (1971)
1973 Now married and flatting with wife & new daughter, I listen to my last Led Zep LP. This track melded 2 faves, LOTR & Led Zep. |
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Pink Floyd - Time (1973)
1973 Now flatting with wife, two daughters and three students, I buy my last Pink Floyd LP. These lyrics impressed me, they are not a young man's thoughts, on the face of it |
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Talking Heads - Take Me To The River (1978)
1978 I am pleased to find something fresh to liven up my tired old Rock/Blues library. Friends were not impressed, but I was relating to younger work-mates. |
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Cocteau Twins - Sugar Hiccup (1983)
1983-84 I bought 4 LPs eventually, I loved the atmospherics. Probably 1st heard this on TV show "Radio With Pictures". Nobody I knew was into this. |
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The Cure - Why Can't I Be You? (1987)
1987 Youngest daughter making mix-tapes includes this, strange to me as I remember them from 1979's "10:15 Saturday Night". Thanks, Sharp QT12. |
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LOVELY DAY ( 88 Sunshine Mix ) - Al Green
1988 I hear this on student radio BFM thru earbuds cycling to work. (Still riding the same bike in 2020). I "just liked it", My tastes are broadening. Didn't buy it or share it with anyone. |
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Lole y Manuel - Con Hojas de Menta (With Leaves of Mint) (1975)
1989? I tape this and a couple more tracks off BFM. Have no idea who or what it is. Think its a boy. Play often late at night, remain fascinated but ignorant. until 1994. (See below) |
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Orinoco Flow - Enya (1988)
1991 My elder daughter leaves home for University leaving this cassette behind. I play it and cry for my loss and her gain. |
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Lucinda Williams - Sweet Old World (1992)
1992 A student radio program I listen to while working in the garage gets me interested in "Countryish" and female artists. This is heart-wrenching and emotional music, which I think appealed to my growing depression. |
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Iris DeMent - Let The Mystery Be (1992)
1992 A student radio program I listen to while working in the garage gets me interested in "Countryish" and female artists. This is heart-wrenching and emotional music, which I think appealed to my growing depression. (Part 2) |
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Los Serafines de Valme - No la Beses en la Boca (1974)
(Don't Kiss Her on the Mouth) 1994 I take Flamenco dance lessons, buy a compilation tape to practise the dance "Sevillanas". Not particularly good, poppy version of the music. However, every second track is an unrelated solo guitarist, Sabicas. I was so impressed that....... |
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Sabicas - Guajira "Cana de Azucar" (1950-70)
1994 I go mad on Flamenco music. I stop playing guitar for a year, stunned into silence. I now have about 30 LPs, 36 CDs & a few cassettes. Stopped dancing in 1996. |
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Ron Sexsmith - Secret Heart (1995)
1997 My wife is teaching, plays this as recommended by her Deputy Principal. Little did I know they were having an affair. Still can't stand to listen to Ron. |
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Alison Krauss - Ghost in This House (1999)
1999 Buy this break-up album and cry along with it. I add Bluegrass to my country interest, and Alison to my female artist list. |
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Republica - Ready To Go (1996)
2000 The pub I'm now a regular at has this on the big screen. I decide maybe I'm over things if I like this, and maybe more modern music has something to offer. |
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Lisa Ekdahl - When Did You Leave Heaven (1995)
2001 I finally grow up and find something for myself without any other influence. Old standards rendered as Cool Jazz by a young Swedish lady with an exquisite balance between innocent and jaded. |
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Turbonegro - Fuck The World (2003)
2004 I discover other people on the Net, get chatty with a Canadian girl of only 23 or so, starting with music, but for a couple of years I was sort of a sounding board for her troubles, and she was someone for me to talk to outside my life. She's fine now, AFAIK. She had some hard Rock tastes, like this banger from a Norwegian band |
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Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good (2006)
2006 I catch her video single in the pub.I illegally downloaded "Back to Black" and listened so uncritically it took me months to realise I was listening to music that previously I would have ignored as "that funky soul stuff". Amy opened a door I have never shut, and behind that door I have found a lot of music that I really like. |
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Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone (1999)
2007? A counsellor suggests if I'm worried about my masculinity, why don't I go to the newly opened gay bar up the road and see what happens. Instead I find some new music and a late-night drinking habit, since they don't close until 04:00. |
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Shangri-las - Remember (Walkin' In The Sand) (1964)
2013 Give up alcohol, buy lots of compilation CDs, run across 50's & 60's girl groups, think they're kinda cool, end up with 1.3GB, 368 files. |
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Alabama Shakes - Be Mine (2012)
2014 I discover this band on YouTube, buy the CD ASAP. Rock is still alive! |
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(1958)LaVern Baker - Voodoo Voodoo
2016 I discover music in the general area of "Rhythm & Blues" from the Fifties and Early Sixties. Somehow I missed these over the last fifty years, but there are some greats. The roots of Rock, & R&B of course. See my earlier Blog: - Rhythm & Blues: 30 Unearthed Gems 1949 - 1965 |