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 8^th 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….