What happened on Wednesday July 25th?

Hydrangea

I was tagged with a meme from Paul's Blog. He was tagged by Heather, who was tagged by Ari, who was tagged by Chris, who was tagged by Jodi .. so this whole damn thing can be blamed on Jodi.
"This is the meme. Write about 5 or 10 (or so) songs that had an impact on your life, and tag five people to carry on."

So I need to come up with 5 to 10 songs that profoundly impacted my life. Wow! Okay so here we go.

1/ The first music that I really remember was by Glenn Miller. Dad is a child of the 40's (he was born in '32) and is a big "Big Band" fan, I remember these 78 (yes I meant a 78 rpm record) being played constantly when I was young. I wanted to know who this man was, why he made this music and why Dad loved it so much. Before the Internet all we had was "The Glenn Miller Story
So here is The Glenn Miller Orchestra with "It Must Be Jelly (cause jam don't shake like that)" (download MP3)

2/ Be Bop A Lula ( download MP3 ) - Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps. It seems to me that I have always known this song, Mom and Dad were not fans of Rock'n Roll, but we were always allowed to watch the Ed Sullivan show and whatever guests he might have on. Though I don't remember this song from that show ( I did a Internet search and he was on in '57, I wasn't even a figment in my parents imagination yet.) So it had to be radio airplay or something that embedded this song in my mind. I remember being a little kid, probably around 7 years old, walking along the train tracks on my way to cubs, and singing this song. I only knew two lines "Be bop a lula she's my baby, be bop a lula I don't mean maybe", and I would repeat them constantly.

3/ Light My Fire (download MP3) - The Doors. We didn't get a lot of radio stations in central Ontario in the late sixties/early seventies. This song seemed to be on the air constantly. How did this impact me? Long hair and rock'n roll seemed so cool. I knew I wanted to be involved somehow, and I thought that being a radio DJ was the way. I would stand in the bathroom for hours perfecting my radio voice.

4/ Paradise by the Dashboard Light (download MP3) - Meat Loaf, Wow 1977 was a pretty important year. I was 14 years old, going into high school, got stoned for the first time that summer, got my first portable stereo (A blue eight track AM/FM stereo with split speakers), saw Star Wars and began to realize that information was cool, not the stuff they taught us at school but what I could learn on my own. So I read/watched as much as I could about the artists I listened to .. I became a music geek at high school.

5/ White Riot (download MP3) - The Clash. (another 1977 occurrence) I was over at a friends house getting stoned and he puts on "The Clash" .. this song hit me. Wow! people stood up for things, I didn't have to take the shit being handed out to me. (I was kind of complacent and easy going back then) I guess it was the first time that I realized that if you really wanted something you had to fight for it not just roll over and take what was being given.

6/ Ziggy Stardust (download MP3) - David Bowie. I was in my parents room watching a music documentary, sometime in the mid seventies, I remember it like it was yesterday. There was this whole part about David as Ziggy. Once again a wow experience. This was a rockstar, I had to learn more. I discovered the Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol and the incredible mixture of Art and Music.

7/ London Calling (download MP3) - The Clash, Cool For Cats (download) - Squeeze. The first two albums I bought for myself. I had a job, I had money and I didn't have to wait for my birthday or Christmas for a gift. I was independent.

8/ I Got My Mojo Working (download MP3) - Paul Butterfield Blues Band. This was on my set list for one of my first college radio shows. Once again a Wow!, I was listening to mostly punk and rock at this time. All of a sudden the Blues were there. I hit the library and learned at much as I could. Paul Butterfield lead me to B.B. King, BB King lead me to Muddy Waters, Muddy Waters lead me to Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Lemon Jefferson lead me to Leadbelly. A big door opened. Blues/Folk/Bluegrass/Country and Gospel all became real.

9/ Bohemian Rhapsody (download MP3) - Queen. The only reason why I went to see them in concert at the CNE grandstand. I had to see this song done live.

10/ Skin Deep (download MP3) - The Stranglers. I wanted to so badly go out with this certain girl that I knew in college, (long blond hair, great lips, beautiful eyes and a really good body) I talked her into going to the concert at the Masonic Temple with me. I was so caught up in the music and show that I never saw her make out and leave with the guy beside us, until his girlfriend told me we had been dumped. I realised at that point that for me women came second to music. (until I met Wife of course!)

I'm not big on tagging but for once I'm going to do it. So I would like to see some reponses from:

Hi-Watt-Cha Doing?
Nics Opinions
musings of middle age
CamelsbackandForth
Armagideon Time
The Vinyl Villain

Listening to "Story Of the Rockers" Gene Vincent.

By the way

All the mp3s posted on the site are there to encourage you to listen and then rush out and buy the songs direct from the artist, by mail order or from a decent record shop near your house. Any artist who doesn't want their works featured here only needs to get in touch and the mp3 will be removed at the earliest opportunity. In any event, all mp3s are posted for a limited time only.