foggytown

The brain plays funny tricks, especially as you get older. And it can
scare you!

Last night I was doing some furniture making and, for absolutely no
perceivable reason, I started singing "Olds-Mo-William" which was
recorded by Paul Peek. I don't think I've heard that song, much less
thought about it, in the last 45 years! And what surprised me
mightily was that I could remember the lyrics word for word. At the
time it came out I remember being pretty unimpressed so it wasn't like
I'd committed it to memory or sung/played it every day for a year or
anything.

Earlier that day I'd spent a half hour trying to remember my zip code.

Help me, doctor! I remember Paul Peek's only almost-hit! That ought
to get me a free ride on the Disoriented Express.

FoggyTown

grammarian

Dave Barry wrote a column about this once. He said the lyrics to
Pineapple Princess were pushing important information out of his
brain.

speedo232

I have that record. The other side is dynamite!

My only time as a guest on the Alan Freed tv show, Paul Peek was there,
performing Olds-Mo-William.
Michael from Teaneck

dave b.

Songwriter & teacher Sheila Davis has opined that songlyrics are never
remembered for no reason; it is often the case that the song was
"burned" into your brain at the same time something ELSE of GREAT importance
was occurring in your young life...

The song "Strawberry Letter #23" will forever be emblazoned upon my mind,
because it was my favorite song at the very moment I, aged 14,
learned my beloved grandmother had just died of sudden cardiac arrest...
[September 15th, 1977] We drove up to Arkansas to bury her, and
jeez, the radio must've played that song once every hour on the car
radio... Now, of course, few will deny that that record is a
brilliant one, but it has always given me a haunted, even grim,
feeling whenever I hear it.

On the other hand, I was recently dismayed and tickled to realize I
remembered nearly *word-for-word* those little snippets of dialogue from
that now-campy and over-wrought mini soap era hit from 1974 called "Once
You Understand" by Think. I'm pretty sure this record looms large on
many critics' "crap of all time" list! (-:

I suspect that, while one faculty of one's brain considers a record
"crap", there is another, more primal part lurking that latches onto
that selfsame record for reasons of its own (however pathetic)...


Dave B.


news:<cb8d4013.0409110042.c2df371@posting.google.c om>...

brian watson

I have a theory, originally opined by DJ John Peel, that we like best the
music that was current when we were 17.

--
Brian
Henry Fielding: "All Nature wears one universal grin"

ed

I had two songs rattling around my crowded mind for way to long. One was
"Starry Eyed" by Gary Stites. I was able to purge it from my mind by dl'ing
and listening to it just one more time. The other song is called "Bobby
Lane". Never been able to find the song or artist to listen to just one more
time.
Ed

len blanks

In rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s, Brian Watson
<news@spheroid.demon.co.uk> writes:


But 'Teenage Kicks' wasn't released when Peel was 17.

--
Len

LONELY GUY 17 seeks lonely girl into Comsats, Joy Division, Dalek 1 and
Talking Heads for sincere friendship Croydon area looks unimportant
Box No. 11489.

bdirk

"Strawberry Letter #23" - originally a minor hit by wonderous Shuggie
Otis - was a gem. Lee Ritenour did that ridiculously fast guitar
solo, with no overdubbing, in one take. The lyrics were a period
piece, and I've taken the time to learn them. It's a hit at parties.
Thanks for bringing this up, and sorry that the song has sad
connotations for you.

Nicholson Baker's "The Mezzanine" has a terrific section about people
passing crappy songs to each other inadvertently.

Bob