|
Mark Schweickart
Regarding the dispute about Elvis' influence that is raging between our esteemed colleagues, Dave and Mike, here is my take on it.
I think we are not old enough (which is a phrase I do not find myself using very often, if ever) to have been heavily influenced by Elvis in his heyday, which was the mid-to-late 50s. We were in grade school then, and music on the radio, was not really part of our lives--at least it wasn't a part of mine, certainly not enough that I would actually go out and buy a record. Music didn't start to have an effect on me until about 1964, and for me, it was Bob Dylan, not the Beatles. As huge as they were then, I didn't get into their early stuff. I don't think I appreciated them until Sgt. Pepper in '67. Aside from the Dylan influence, which was, admittedly, a rather specialized taste in those days, I seem to recall enjoying much of what was coming out of Motown, as well as the Righteous Brothers, The Animals, The Stones, and.... oh who knows what all, but it certainly did not include The Beatles. (Although I did like their version of Twist and Shout, which I remember trying to dance to at one of our sophomore year sock-hops). And oddly enough, I recall the first 45 record I ever bought was Downtown by Petula Clark, which would have been in '65 (according to Google). I was a late bloomer for record buying perhaps.
From our grade school days, the songs I remember most were novelty songs like: Running Bear, or Battle of New Orleans, or North to Alaska, or Itsy-Bitsy Teenie-Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini, or Alley-Oop. or The Witch Doctor, or Purple People Eater, or Ahab the Arab, or who could ever forget My Boomerang Won't Come Back, or does your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight? Now those were some song to warp a young child's mind.
|
