Music and Memories
Driving home yesterday, listening to music from my youth as usual, Freda Payne's "Bring the Boys Home" came on the radio. As I was loudly singing along, I remembered how my older cousin used to make my younger sister and me sing background to her lead to this song.
I was maybe 15 or 16. While we were joyfully harmonizing badly, pretending we were on stage, none of us gave any thought at all to the lyrics. It was the early 70s. The Vietnam war was still raging. We were kids having fun. We still had 45s.
And Payne's poignant plea was simple: "Bring the boys home, bring them back alive... why don't you turn the ships around... everybody ought to lay your weapons down." Or at least, that's the way I remember the words.
Forty years later, two wars in progress. The lyrics are still relevant. This time, as I'm singing along, still off-key, it's not so joyful anymore.
And for the youngsters (and the hopelessly nostalgic), here's a look back at the 45 experience.
I was maybe 15 or 16. While we were joyfully harmonizing badly, pretending we were on stage, none of us gave any thought at all to the lyrics. It was the early 70s. The Vietnam war was still raging. We were kids having fun. We still had 45s.
And Payne's poignant plea was simple: "Bring the boys home, bring them back alive... why don't you turn the ships around... everybody ought to lay your weapons down." Or at least, that's the way I remember the words.
Forty years later, two wars in progress. The lyrics are still relevant. This time, as I'm singing along, still off-key, it's not so joyful anymore.
And for the youngsters (and the hopelessly nostalgic), here's a look back at the 45 experience.
Comments
Post a Comment