Recently, when scanning radio stations in the car on a long trip from Germany to Austria, I selected one that was playing American music (most do) and, according to the radio output, was categorized as…oldies.
What was even more concerning, perhaps, was that I loved it! The songs were classic pop or rock songs from the (mostly) 1970s, ‘80s and early ‘90s. Certainly, I thought, these songs could not be considered oldies because they brought me right back to a time when I was…young!
I, like many, love the band Queen and it was easy to sing along to Bohemian Rhapsody. This made me remember that, when I was a freshman in high school and on the basketball team, we used to warm up to music by Queen with We Are the Champions serving as our anthem. We won the state championship that year. At one point, the song Jessie by Joshua Kadison played and even though it had been decades since I last heard that song, I sang along, remembering most of the lyrics and smiling at the simplicity of the message of the song. It made me yearn for, what felt like, a simpler time. Or maybe, I was just yearning for a time when music, and the lyrics of a song, felt simpler.
After another 90 minutes of static free listening to the radio and singing along to songs by Air Supply, Journey and Procol Harum (A Whiter Shade of Pale), I began to wonder why they don’t make songs like they used to? I mean, these songs had clear lyrics, simple messages and repeated refrains. Today, there are fewer songs that I sing along to, primarily because I don’t know the lyrics. And that’s when it hit me… I sounded just like my mother when she would insist on putting on her ‘oldies’ station in the car! She would sing along to her songs that sounded like rubbish to me with tin-like music and doo-rah-rah refrains. My music was so much better.
I realized, then, that I remembered the lyrics of these songs because, back then, the music and lyrics of songs were much more meaningful to me because I was…young. Life was newer and filled with the promise of excitement. Songs seemed to capture my own personal angst with love or feelings of longing for adventures. Music was an escape and a good song that could capture a feeling or a moment, became a permanent memory. Now, I am much older and settled. I don’t really need music to elicit feelings of love or adventure. At least not today…
When we finally arrived home, I was still feeling a bit musically nostalgic and decided to watch the Netflix show about the making of the song We Are the World. I absolutely loved that song and, as the credits rolled, found myself singing along, remembering nearly all the lyrics. Unfortunately, it was late when the movie ended, and my brain was on nostalgic lyric repeat… All Night Long.
REfrain! REfrain!
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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