MUSIC THROUGHOUT MY LIFE

I have always loved listening to music, mostly vocal music.  While never a fan of opera or rap, I like most other types.

When I was a child, we always cleaned house on Saturday mornings.  My mother always had the radio on, and we would listen to the hits of the time as we cleaned.  Some of my mother's favorites were DEAR HEARTS AND GENTLE PEOPLE, sung by Bing Crosby; HARBOR LIGHTS by Sammy Kaye; RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET, also by Sammy Kaye, I think; OLD LAMPLIGHTER by various artists; WAYWARD WIND by Gogi Grant; and THEY CALL THE WIND MARIAH, by Ed Ames.  There were many others, but those were the ones I remember. 

In the late forties or early fifties, every Friday night we watched Your Hit Parade on television., My favorite singers on this program were Gisele MacKenzie and Snooky Lanson.  One of my favorite songs from that time period was THIS OLD HOUSE. 

In my younger years, my brother and I would go to the movies every Saturday afternoon.  Most of those movies were westerns, and they all had their theme songs.  For Roy Rogers it was HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU, for Gene Autry it was BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN, and of course the Long Ranger galloped onto the screen to the sound of WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE. 

A few years later westerns nearly took over television, again with catchy theme songs; MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, BIG IRON, RINGO, BATTLE OF PALADIN/HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, RAWHIDE, HIGH NOON, GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY, SHIFTING, WHISPERING SANDS and MULE TRAIN.

Other movie songs I really liked were BORN FREE and BLESS THE BEASTS AND THE CHILDREN, as well as most of the songs from South Pacfic.

As I grew older, a different type of music began to appeal to me.  I will list some of those songs in my next blog.

Any of these bring back memories for you?