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my 1960 playlist

Confession: I did not have a music playlist in 1960, being only 9 years old, and so I listened mainly to the records (33 1/3 LPs) that my parents played on their HiFi turntable in our home. 

What got me thinking in this groove was hearing Harry Belafonte on an Amazon playlist, selected by my wife tonight. Belafonte, a famous Calypso singer, passed away in April of this year. 

What's amazing to me is that hearing a just few notes and words of a song transported me sixty years back to the tunes that played in my childhood home...

But I'm sad to say I'm on my way
Won't be back for many a day
My heart is down
My head is turning around
I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town
(Jamaica Farewell)

There was Harry Belafonte, a favorite of my parents. My mother especially liked "Moon River" by Andy Williams, and being an accordionist, she enjoyed songs like "Beer Barrel Polka", which is still sung these days at the Green Bay Packers' home games. 

We had a number of albums by Chet Atkins, whom we all enjoyed, and endeared me to the flat-picking style of guitar playing. I remember hearing records of Mitch Miller ("Sing Along with Mitch"), Perry Como, and my favorite at the time, the Kingston Trio.

Around that time my older brother introduced me to the Ventures (1961) and the Beach Boys (1962). Ed Sullivan introduced us to the Beatles (1964), and a cousin from California gave me albums by the Doors (1967) and by Crosby, Stills, and Nash (1969). 

At that point my own playlist was off and running.


   

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