34 Comments

Favorite old song? No question about it. "Give Me The Night" by George Benson. Makes me remember the old days of promises about the future, all tragically betrayed. Innocence, pure rhythm, romance - the song includes all of them.

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Amazing song! I love it. Listening now for the umpeenth time.

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Excellent article & super cool videos!

My favorite songs when I was little were "Delta Dawn" and "Like a Rhinestone Cowboy." I still smile when I hear them. 😃

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Glen Campbell!

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Yep, that was back when our local WRVA played 70's "soft rock" long before they flipped to talk radio.

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I moved to Richmond in '94/'95 (New Year's Eve). Within a few months, I was delivering pizza and listening to some of the crazies on WRVA. Those were some interesting times.

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And it's pretty much Fox News BS now.

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The first music I remember falling in love with when I was 10 (in 1965) is the music I still listen to: Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and The Beatles. Later there was lots of classic southern rock and a stint with country music but I always return to folk music and classic Beatles songs.

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I was a HUGE Beatles fan, although I wasn't really exposed to them until about 20 years after you were. Nevertheless, they hit me like a thunderbolt, and I've been in love with them ever since.

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I think that Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney are/were the greatest songwriters of our times. Their music is still incredibly relevant.

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I agree. Poets, all three.

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I think oldest music I listen to regularly and non-ironically, aside from classical is The Mills Brothers, especially the really early stuff. Also, I loved hearing the eerie ambient remix of it while attending Sleep No More. Put a whole new spin on Moon Glow.

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Nice. I listen to a lot of music from that era, but it's just in my rotation, so I might hear a song from the 30s once a day.

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We have over 1,000 CDs and close to that in vinyl. If I had to guess, probably something from the 40s? Big band or swing? No, wait that's from earlier. We also have a good amount of opera and classical stuff. While the GenXers in us gravitate towards 80s 'new wave', pretty much the only thing we don't care for is country (unless it's Dolly) or metal. Ray likes rap, I'll take a pass on that.

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I will add "old country" to the list of music I really enjoy, stuff like Johnny Cash, Hank Sr, and even earlier stuff. Country was ruined by commercialization just as I was beginning to listen to music myself.

I love those old swing songs, too!

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I love the old tech. I was in St.Louis for a conference, where they have a mission of old tech. I was expecting to see ancient telephones and stuff like that, and I did. I was miffed, though, that they treated the tech of my childhood (cassettes, VHS) as if it were a horse and buggy. Then again, I guess I really am that old. My kids certainly think so!

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Yes! I also think the pre-internet era relics really are a lot like the horse and buggy. The world has changed at least as dramatically from the 70s to the 2020s as it did from the 1880s through the 1970s, I think, and that's remarkable to consider.

Of course, we're the apocryphal boiling frogs here.

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I am 1) a classical music fan raised on the HIP style music of Hogwood, Norrington, and Gardiner. As well the chorale music of Britten, who I cried for when he died. I bought a CD player to be closer to God the Father - Bach, the Son - Mozart, and the Holy Spirit - Beethoven, as revealed by man prophets. 2) Progressive Rock and Roll such as Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Moody Blues, Asia. 3) New Wave such as The Police, REM, Flock of Sea Gulls, The Buggles. 4) The old which I learned from my grandmother such as Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and the entire B&W aesthetic. From there the Bebop generation came calling from the used record shops. 5) Billy Joel. Brannigan, Blondie - the New Wave dance beat which I picked up from my friends. 6) Edith Piaf, the Beatles, and Tchaikovsky from my Uncle who went to Europe and danced. 7) Oldfield was a minor God. I learned him from the late night radio. 8)Led Zeppelin and Def Leppard in a act of rebellion will doing proofs in my head and walking to Dunkin' Donuts for work.

Later I listen to my own (Classical-esque) music as I relentlessly composed it.

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Thanks for this thoughtful piece today, Andrew. Music has been such a profound addition to my life that i can't imagine my life without it. I was born in 1962, so my first love was the Beatles and everything i heard in the 60s. Back then, there was a lot of cross over in musical genres. My parents had albums by the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Trini Lopez, CCR, Glen Campbell, Charlie Pride, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, the Band, and Sergio Mendez. We watched the Smothers Brothers show, Sonny and Cher, Glen Campbell's variety hour, Andy Williams' show, and even Hee Haw. My older brother introduced me to YES, Bob Dylan, Dan Fogelberg, Santana, and Stephen Stills. Every decade of music enhanced my treasure trove. I started playing the upright bass over 20 years ago, and that enabled me to broaden my tastes into areas like Americana, jazz, Gypsy Jazz, swing, and prog rock. It's been so much fun. I hope i get to continue down this path for the rest of my life. I log my travels in music on the vince newton youtube channel, and i hope my grandkids enjoy having their Papa around long after i'm gone. I love melody in music, but i base my practice in the rhythm - because to me, rhythm is the foundation. And i believe that the foundation came first in the development of music. That's why i think percussion was where it all started. People banging on stuff.

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Vince, I think this is right: we must have begun with rhythm. It's too easy to just clap your hands or stomp your feet. I have a lot of this in me, too! One thing I could reliably do (I think, anyway) was keep time. It didn't take much else as a bass player in punk bands back then, but I tried to play well anyway.

I think I caught the tail end of Hee Haw with my folks. It was pretty painful to watch!

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I agree - keeping time is essential. And i agree that Hee Haw was a bit much. But, i did like Buck Owens and his Bakersfield sound. It reminds me of Western Swing, and i love that (i.e. Asleep at the Wheel).

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I was pretty open-minded for a six year old.

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Huge music collection here too, and it's always been a big part of my life. Can't really answer the question about the "oldest" but I meant to ask you this Andrew. You mentioned before that you always listen to music when writing. I find I can't do that unless it is some form of "muzac" on headphones. I go to YouTube and pick "music for writers" or whatever. It has to be instrumental and ethereal sounding. Big soundscapes only. And the usual reason I do this is to block out sound/noise around me that I can't control. And detectable melodies are bad for my concentration. Lyrics are out of the question. That's how my brain works. I do play a bit of guitar myself so maybe that's why. Do you play at all?

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I played bass for a few years in a couple of punk bands, and I've always had an ear for music (I won't tout my skills beyond that). Pardon the french, but this is the playlist I will often put on (shuffle, or just straight playthrough) if I need to write/think (that's most mornings):

https://www.pandora.com/playlist/PL:144865057153483011:74638688?part=ug-desktop&corr=74638688

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When I click the link it says it isn't available in this country right now. Anyway, your writing output while listening to tunes is prolific so you must be doing something right in that regard!

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It definitely works for my brain, but Alley will be sitting next to me and asking me to mute the music... so I'm not really convinced my playlist would work for you after all.

I also listened to music when I was studying in high school, and that seems to have been a very, very lasting habit!

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My parents were big into Perry Como and I still like some of his music. My dad also got to see a lot of the jazz greats as a child and introduced me to Duke Ellington and Mel Torme. So Caravan is probably the oldest song I listen to regularly.

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Judge Harry T Stone introduced me to Mel Torme!

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I remember the first time Harry mentioned Mel. I immediately had to tell my dad.

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It got me thinking about early early early music. Rhythm is mentioned here in the comments, but I can also imagine some early proto humans, mimicking the musicality of bird calls, or being captivated by the wind resonating through some cave dwelling, or accidentally making a fart noise squeezing your cupped hands together. I like the idea of this kind of music still being a part of our experience.

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Great point, Jon. Rhythm is a natural early concept for us to think about, but tonality exists in nature too. It's entirely possible that the first "song" was either/or.

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Queen, Abba, Beatles, also old Italian and Spanish songs are beautiful 🥰

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Freddie Mercury - the voice of the gods!

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Absolutely! My childhood memories are related to Joe Dassin and Iglesias.

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