Monday, April 14, 2014

DAY 120 - COUNTING DOWN TO THE 50TH

GOOD MORNING, CLASS '64
Springtime - Monet
from
Two Tramps in Mud Time

Robert Frost

The sun was warm but the wind was chill. 
You know how it is with an April day 
When the sun is out and the wind is still, 
You're one month on in the middle of May. 
But if you so much as dare to speak, 
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch, 
A wind comes off a frozen peak, 
And you're two months back in the middle of March.

Road to Spring - Bela Bodo
Music in the fifties and early sixties wasn't all teen tragedy songs and wild rock and roll bands. There were mellow moments and joyful moments, especially of the instrumental kind, that captivated us. 

Maybe there was a sadness in the heart that only music with no words could fill. Or perhaps the music itself could fill your heart to bursting with the exuberant joy of it.

The sound of it swept us along either gently and sweetly or with high spirits. We delighted in the musical gifts of the song writers and the musicians who played their notes. 

Those were good music years, the early Boomer years - a good time to be alive and listening.     

Quiet Village
reached #2 on Billboard's charts in 1959 
Martin Denny - 1959 

The Happy Organ
Topped the Billboard Hot 100
also reached #5 on Billboard's R&B chart.
The first pop/rock hit to 
feature the electronic organ
 as lead instrument
The 45 RPM single was the first 
instrumental No. 1 on Billboard 
magazine's Hot 100 chart. 
Dave "Baby" Cortez - 1959

 Green Onions
Peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100
 No. 1 on the soul singles chart, 
for four non consecutive weeks: 
an unusual occurrence in that it fell
 in and out of top spot three times
Ranked No. 183 on Rolling Stone'
list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. 
Currently ranked as the 
85th greatest song of all time, 
as well as the best song of 1962, 
by Acclaimed Music.
In 1999 the song was given a
 Grammy Hall of Fame Award.
In 2012 it was added to the 
Library of Congress's 
National Recording Registry
 list of "culturally, historically, or 
aesthetically important" 
American sound recordings.
Booker T. & the M.G.s - 1962




O! how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day!
William Shakespeare
The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Spring Walk - Nita Leger Casey

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