Friday, January 7, 2011

I LOVE DOO WOP!!! SERIOUSLY....




  

I love Doo Wop!  Some younger persons may not know about Doo Wop, but it was music of the 50’s and early 60’s.  Those were innocent times.  I often say to my husband that we were young in the last of the good old days.  It is true to me, but, no doubt, not true to other generations.  I’m pretty sure they had their own good times. 

It seems music has always been a part of my life.  My Mom had a beautiful voice.  I remember that she sang all the time.  Of course, she sang the Lullaby song to me.  People wonder if babies dream…I can assure you they do, but of only what they know.  I say this with such certainty because of my own (small) childhood experience.  I thought the Lullaby song was music, but ended in colors and light.  That was how it always ended for me until my little world and experiences grew larger than just light and color.  Around the age of 4, I began to wonder why it was that I couldn’t see the swirling colors and light that always seemed to accompany music and beyond.  I remember pondering on that question a whole lot.  I don’t know how other people were as children, but I spent a lot of time thinking.  Mainly trying to figure out what was going on in this life.  I had thoughts that seemed to precede my life.  I don’t think I will go there because it has nothing to do with music.  I will say that it seemed I was born knowing some things and thinking/pondering some of the truths of life before I even knew any of the truths of life.  Well…I’m done with that little side road.  Back to music…


It seemed that music and experience were tied together for me since my earliest recollections.  Music and experience became music and memories.  That’s how it is with me…

In my life, I have lived through several “Music Eras”.  I remember when Elvis first got started.  The adults said he would be the ruin of the youth.  No good could come from Elvis!  Today, I have say “HA!” and “LOL”.  I loved Elvis.   

Back in those days, a lot of silly songs were made…like the Purple People Eater, Splish Splash (the bathtub song) and the Tiny Polka Dot  Bikini.  I especially liked the Battle of New Orleans…it was my very first 45 record.  Through all the silliness of the age of innocence (as I call it), ran a thread of romance.  That romance was Doo Wop!   




The PLATTERS (my personal favorite)....

In my youth, I was a dancing fool.  Well…sometimes I still am…in the privacy of my living room.  I began going to dances when I was 11 years old.  My parents were pretty smart.  They knew that idle children will get into trouble.  My parents planned with some neighbors a Friday night event where the children in the neighborhood could have a dance party.  We wanted a sock hop, but socks don’t last long on a concrete patio.  LOL…  It soon became a pre-teen club.  We voted a name for our club….  “The Boppers”.  I was 11 years old and it was the best fun of my life…so far…
We moved to the country the summer I was 12.  My parents were quick to observe that the local teens had no activities outside of school dances (few and far between).  The local teens simply hung around the Tastee Freeze.  Then they would hook up and go parking.  My parents wanted a place for their daughters to go socialize with adult supervision.  And so “Teen Town” was born.  I was in 8th grade and it was going strong when I graduated from high school.  It was “the place” for the teens to meet and have fun.  We began at the local Women’s Club and later expanded to a county owned Quonset hut steel building.  We went from a record player to live local teen bands.   I wasn’t very happy that my parents were there, but it was good clean fun and my parents were really good about acting like they didn’t know me.  LOL…  But, I will be forever grateful that my parents and a handful of other parents cared enough to give their time and energy to a town full of bored teens.

I grew as a person in the “Teen Town” years.  I was president of our “Teen Town” club.  I grew in social grace in those years.  I grew in confidence.  Our teen club appeared on a teen dance show twice in the early 60’s.  It was a thrill for us.  I had experiences I would not have had if there were no “Teen Town”.  My sisters grew with me as well.  It was a safe place to grow and I am grateful for my parents and the other parents who stepped up to fill a need for teens. 

It was at “Teen Town” that I first began to love Doo Wop.  It was the romance of it…the smooth, seductive voices in melody.  I fell in love with Doo Wop as a backdrop.  It was the stuff memories are made of...



Today, I still love Doo Wop, but I limit my listening pleasure because, at this age and after a lifetime of experiences, it brings sad memories of loss.  Some classmates and one former boyfriend died in the Vietnam War.  With the violence of war came pain and a shift in music from silly and romance to a whole different music era of the ‘70’s.  I did enjoy the music of the ‘70’s and beyond, but nothing stirs my memories and deeply buried feelings like Doo Wop.  So you see…Doo Wop is tied to my deepest feelings, loss and broken hearts.  I listen until I begin to feel the pain of loss, then I go do something else.  I cannot linger long in my memories.  And it is not healthy…  for me…



Now you have seen into my soul….


7 comments:

  1. I like that music too. I llike most anything Johnny Cash and Elvis, most of the best stuff from the 50's and 60's; old timey spirituals like Will The Circle Be Unbroken. I sometimes will spend 8 straight hours or more going through youtube videos of such music...and crying buckets for broken dreams, and lost hopes. I find it cleansing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I grew up in the fiftys and I remember in our small town there was nothing to do on Saturday nights except a movie at a place called the movie barn.. the movie started early in the evening and got over about 8:30....what teenager wants to see a movie on Saturday night with their whole family setting in a row of seats connecting each other ten go home and go to bed at 8;30? The only other place in town for entertainment was the pool hall...where everyone was either smoking or drinking.....Well the summer when I was 12 years old and madly in love??? with my neigbor and school friend's cousin that JeanEllen's mom and dad decided to open a snack and non alcolic drink and dance hall in back with a Juke box and booths ....It was to be a safe place for teen agers to hang out! I have many of the same emotions you have described about this time period, the songs all had special meaning applied to me and my dream boat which could in no way be revealed to my mother. I was not even allowed to think about dating at that age and especially the guy I had a crush on as he was 4 years older than me and even though he told me he wanted to go with me ...I would have to say I just wanted to be friends....My mom told my brother who was three years older than me to watch me and to tell Bob. to stay away from me. But the music I remember loving were country music....such as Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Hank Williams, and a little later I must say I fell in love with Johnny Cash and Elvis Presly..... THen came Fats Domino....Whoopie! By that time I was like you said , "a dancin fool" and still love to dance in my own living room and back then we seemed to call it Be-bop music.. There was a (song I liked to danced to back then ( I can't remember the artist)called Be bop a Lula...Well Da-boola I could go on and on but don't want to add a blog in a blog....we seem a lot alike except I seem to be about a score older than you...Isnt a score about 10 years? Love U and yer bloggin....Sh-Boola

    ReplyDelete
  3. Temy: I know what you mean. I don't allow myself to spend much time in my memories. There's a lot of pain back there.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shirley: You made me giggle. Yes, we are very much alike. I'll have to write sometime about when I planned to meet up with a cute carny guy after the fair closed for the night. LOL...good thing my best friend had more common sense than I did because I was struck dumb by love at first sight. I was about 15. Considering subsequent events, it could very well have been my last night on earth...seriously... I thank God that He always watched over me and protected me from my thoughtless ways in my youth.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What FABULOUS parents you had! Now I know where you get your kindness and love for others from.
    I love the oldies. From Doo Wop to early Motown, oh the songs and the memories connected to them! With each ere that "comes back" like grunge or disco, I always wonder why no one ever tries to bring back Doo Wop. I'd rather see teens today hanging at a sock hop instead of practicing their graffiti skills on the freeway over hands and signs.
    What a wonderful piece of YOU, Darlene!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I didn't know Grandma and Grandpa were so cool lol.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes! They were very cool. Your Grandmother, Aunt Sally and I were very blessed.

    ReplyDelete