Johnny's in the basement, mixing up the medicine...
It was an enlightening holiday this past year. My kids are creeping into the teen years- rather what they call now "pre-teen", so the wish lists were reflecting that change. More requests for clothes rather than toys, more music cd's and the contraptions to play such same on...all the trappings of kids beginning to define who they are. It's kinda neat, but kinda sad at the same time.
The biggest surprize was my youngest. Her list was evenly balanced with requests for Bratz dolls (those hideously scarey "fashion" dolls that are replacing Barbies in some circles-something about them makes me uneasy) and asking for certain books and cd's. It was her cd that caught my attention-she only wanted one. It was simply stated: a Bob Dylan cd
Whoa! Where'd that come from?? It made me smile and to paraphrase one of his album titles-it brought it all back home.
My childhood was spent hearing almost nothing but the Beatles and Bob Dylan. At one time I honestly thought there were only 2 record companies: Columbia and Capitol . Capitol having the more cooler label, in my opinion- that rainbow band that encircled the black inner label. Columbia having a boring stoplight red with that curious icon in a white square offset from the center. Never did know what the heck that was suppose to represent-much like that weird antennae-like icon on Nabisco products. Maybe when I die and am entrusted with all the knowledge of the universe I'll find out.
Anyway, my taste in music was at the mercy of my older brother-he was the one who bought all the Dylan and Beatles and listened to them every waking minute he was at home. He had every Dylan and Beatle album that came out between 1960 and 1970. This was the soundtrack of my childhood. I liked Dylan...didn't understand half of what he said, but I still liked it. I thought he was funny.
Now as an adult-and a very old one at that-I no longer struggle to stay cutting edge. Most of what passes for music now with the "kids" I consider total crap...congratulations: I am now my parents! I prefer to have the car radio on an oldies station and that's where my youngest first heard of Dylan. "Like a Rolling Stone" was playing, I naturally cranked it up and sang along. The words of that song, now with age and maturity making way more sense now than when I was 8.
"Mom, I like that song." came a little voice from the backseat. That made me smile. "What's a diplomat?" she asked. Wow, she was actually listening to the words, too.
Shortly after that little incident PBS ran that 2 part documentary about Dylan. That was a must see for me. My kids wandered in just as it was starting and they stayed for the whole thing.
This made the seduction complete for my youngest. She was completely fascinated by this geek with the bed-head hair."This is the guy that does that song you like." I told her.
"Really?" she was surprized. Then leaned over and confided in me, "He's kinda cute."
OK...now the words cute and Dylan are 2 that one wouldn't expect to hear in the same sentence.
I was somewhat taken aback by that. Of course, she was seeing the circa 1966 Dylan. But it's that image she's smittened with. It's kinda weird. While the rest of her peer group are swooning over Jesse McCartney or whoever the pretty-boy singer du jour is at the moment with that bunch, here's mine totally hung up on a 60's iconoclast. She's in a time warp...but one at least I can relate to.
So it was with great joy and amusement that I sought out a Dylan cd for her. It was tough around these parts to find one from the right era. Wally World was only stocking the companion cds from the PBS program and as much as I love my kids-I ain't about to drop 30 bucks on any music-regardless who it's by or who it's for! I finally found a copy of one of his early greatist hits albums in a bookstore. That'll do! It was one I remember from my brothers collection.
So Christmas morning she squealed with abject delight upon unwrapping it. She's been playing the heck out of it since.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The biggest surprize was my youngest. Her list was evenly balanced with requests for Bratz dolls (those hideously scarey "fashion" dolls that are replacing Barbies in some circles-something about them makes me uneasy) and asking for certain books and cd's. It was her cd that caught my attention-she only wanted one. It was simply stated: a Bob Dylan cd
Whoa! Where'd that come from?? It made me smile and to paraphrase one of his album titles-it brought it all back home.
My childhood was spent hearing almost nothing but the Beatles and Bob Dylan. At one time I honestly thought there were only 2 record companies: Columbia and Capitol . Capitol having the more cooler label, in my opinion- that rainbow band that encircled the black inner label. Columbia having a boring stoplight red with that curious icon in a white square offset from the center. Never did know what the heck that was suppose to represent-much like that weird antennae-like icon on Nabisco products. Maybe when I die and am entrusted with all the knowledge of the universe I'll find out.
Anyway, my taste in music was at the mercy of my older brother-he was the one who bought all the Dylan and Beatles and listened to them every waking minute he was at home. He had every Dylan and Beatle album that came out between 1960 and 1970. This was the soundtrack of my childhood. I liked Dylan...didn't understand half of what he said, but I still liked it. I thought he was funny.
Now as an adult-and a very old one at that-I no longer struggle to stay cutting edge. Most of what passes for music now with the "kids" I consider total crap...congratulations: I am now my parents! I prefer to have the car radio on an oldies station and that's where my youngest first heard of Dylan. "Like a Rolling Stone" was playing, I naturally cranked it up and sang along. The words of that song, now with age and maturity making way more sense now than when I was 8.
"Mom, I like that song." came a little voice from the backseat. That made me smile. "What's a diplomat?" she asked. Wow, she was actually listening to the words, too.
Shortly after that little incident PBS ran that 2 part documentary about Dylan. That was a must see for me. My kids wandered in just as it was starting and they stayed for the whole thing.
This made the seduction complete for my youngest. She was completely fascinated by this geek with the bed-head hair."This is the guy that does that song you like." I told her.
"Really?" she was surprized. Then leaned over and confided in me, "He's kinda cute."
OK...now the words cute and Dylan are 2 that one wouldn't expect to hear in the same sentence.
I was somewhat taken aback by that. Of course, she was seeing the circa 1966 Dylan. But it's that image she's smittened with. It's kinda weird. While the rest of her peer group are swooning over Jesse McCartney or whoever the pretty-boy singer du jour is at the moment with that bunch, here's mine totally hung up on a 60's iconoclast. She's in a time warp...but one at least I can relate to.
So it was with great joy and amusement that I sought out a Dylan cd for her. It was tough around these parts to find one from the right era. Wally World was only stocking the companion cds from the PBS program and as much as I love my kids-I ain't about to drop 30 bucks on any music-regardless who it's by or who it's for! I finally found a copy of one of his early greatist hits albums in a bookstore. That'll do! It was one I remember from my brothers collection.
So Christmas morning she squealed with abject delight upon unwrapping it. She's been playing the heck out of it since.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
posted by white trash republican at Tuesday, January 03, 2006
1 Comments:
I tried introducing the boys to Aerosmith and Sammy Hagar.
They don't like either of them.
Where did I go wrong?!?!
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