A few of us friends who live in different places play vinyl “records” aka “albums” every Tuesday. Analog in a digital world. Turntable Tuesday. We have a Facebook group with not all that many followers but we don’t care and we call it Turntable Tuesday. You may wonder why we stop our daily lives, play, and write about music. To hell with a world that sometimes feels out of control… we are playing vintage and virgin vinyl! We are writing about it. We are engaging a few friends and telling people how great a recording was and our little personal experience with it. Well I know why I do it. There are many reasons but most of all it is something I felt drawn to from a very, very early age. I think about that as I sit here writing this after six decades of existence on this wonderful planet that spawns amazing music and long-lasting recordings.
Tonight I was reading my friend Dan’s post on Facebook about the band “Three Dog Night.” As I sat there looking at all of that writing my mind stopped and hit the mental “rewind button.” That is what this ritual does.
Now for the uninitiated who may be reading this…back a long time ago in 2020 years there was a playback method called tape. There was reel-to reel, 8 tracks, and cassette tape. I never owned an 8 track. Why? Inferior design and a the technology was a little before my time. By before my time I mean I was too young to buy an 8 track and by the time I was old enough I had a cassette deck with record and playback capability. I was also mentored by my best friend and young genius David Shaw to use the cassette as it was superior to the other formats for our use. Reel to reel was not needed for our use in our childhood bedrooms and cars. I only used “metal” or at a minimum “chrome” tape. I still to this day have my Nakamichi CR7-A cassette machine that Nakamichi rebuilt for me (belt drive to direct drive- that is another story) at no charge after spending 3 months earnings buying it back then.
Sorry to get so off on a tangent. Here is the story from some time around the summer of 1970. I can still see the Three Dog Night eight track in the player on the dash of this 1962 faded red Chevrolet Impala. The 8 Tack tape was “blasting” on brand new 1970 era 6 by 9 inch speakers recently installed in the rear deck. My neighbor and friend Darrell Lance had just passed his driver license test in Meridian, Mississippi and his parents were letting him and his older sister drive the old family car. I do remember his Dad was in the dairy business but not much else. This was 1970 and I was in the fifth grade. Darrell was starting to drive and blasting “Three Dog Night” on a car stereo. There were tapes and and all I can remember was “Jeremia Was Bullfrog” “Eli’s Coming” and “Mama Told Me Not to Come.” I spent a lot of time in that car in the driveway listening to 8 tracks. Darell would get a new tape and I would be right there trying to discover new music.
Two doors down to the left on 52nd Avenue in Meridian , Mississippi an older guy who had two sisters was blasting the Winter Brothers (Johnny and Edgar) hits on vinyl and had it cranked so loud I could hear it from my backyard. One day I went down there and asked if I could look at this vinyl to understand more about this music he was playing. He let me look at those covers and the vinyl and I could not get those images out of my mind. Soon after I was riding with them in a carpool to school in this really dated 1960’s car. The car was light green and the Dad was in the TV broadcast business. They were the “Holloways.” I could head over there on Friday nights and I can remember Steely Dan playing “Reeling in the Years” on their TV on the “Midnight Special” which I rarely missed. That was the beginning of what was to become a lifelong addiction to Steely Dan music.
I could also tell you about the older guys living in the house a half-block away on that street. The “Gillettes.” They were three brothers being raised by a father and a grandmother. Gary hung around with me as he was a year or so younger than me. His older bothers were into many things but the oldest had a magazine “rag” on newspaper stock in his bedroom. I asked about it one day. I remember asking “What is Rolling Stone Magazine?” He started telling me all about the music articles and current events in that stack of paper. Soon I was reading them from cover to cover about all things music. It was an interesting time and I can even remember the guy who lived across the street from them returning from the Vietnam war. He gave me a small silk parachute and told me some stories. I do not to this day remember what his name was but he seemed very mature after coming back from the war.
I have so many stories from this era where I lived a half dozen blocks from the Jimmie Rodgers memorial. http://www.jimmierodgers.com/
Long story short….Vinyl Three Dog Night spawned this story but music can leave reams of stories in a lifetime wake. I will sign off tonight with a few lyrics. See ya’ down the road.
Joy to the World
Hoyt Axton…performed by Three Dog Night
Jeremiah was a bullfrog
Was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But I helped him a-drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine
Singin’ joy to the world
All the boys and girls now
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me
And if I were the king of the world
Tell you what I’d do
I’d throw away the cars and the bars and the war
Make sweet love to you
Sing it now, joy to the world
All the boys and girls
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me
You know I love the ladies
Love to have my fun
I’m a high life flyer and a rainbow rider
A straight shootin’ son-of-a-gun
I said a straight shootin’ son-of-a-gun
Joy to the world
All the boys and girls
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me
Joy…