Music Flashbacks: A Sign of an Aging Boomer?

Mister Boomer has flashbacks. No, not those kind of flashbacks, but rather, music flashbacks. They can happen any any point. Some are triggered by events and circumstances that remind Mister B of a song, or a situation of what he remembers doing when a particular song was played. For example, Mister B cannot hear Neil Sedaka’s Breaking Up Is Hard to Do (1962) without flashing back to his grandmother’s kitchen table. While spending a week at his grandmother’s house one summer, he had his transistor radio on and was putting together a model car on the kitchen table when the song came on. A mundane scene, but one that has been burned into Mister B’s memory banks, forever linking the song and the circumstance.

However, there is one aspect of Mister B’s music flashbacks he finds most intriguing, and that is that many mornings he will wake up with a boomer-era song in his head. It’s almost as if someone left the jukebox on all night, and in random rotation; what he hears on waking is what is playing at the time. What is most fascinating is, often the songs are those he has not heard in decades, and in many cases, he does not own a copy in his personal collection. There is that old chestnut many of us are reminded of, particularly as we age, that we can’t remember where we put our keys, yet we can recall song lyrics from fifty years ago. Guilty as charged.

Here is a sampling of some of the tunes that have danced across the neurons of Mister B’s gray matter recently when he awoke to a new morning:

Silhouettes — The Rays (1957)
This doo wop/rock classic was covered by many bands, most notably The Diamonds and Herman’s Hermits. While each of the groups had Top 10 airplay hits with the tune, the version by The Rays went to number 3; The Diamonds’ version, released just months after The Rays’, made it to number 5, but failed to make Billboard’s top sales chart; The Four Seasons’ included a version on their 1963 album, Ain’t That A Shame And Twelve Others, but it was not released as a single; Herman’s Hermits did their version in 1965 and it climbed to number 10. What’s odd for Mister B is he hasn’t heard nor thought about this song in eons, yet, one morning, there it was.

Stop! Stop! Stop! — The Hollies (1966)
The exotic-sounding chords of this Hollies hit made it a standout with boomers. Mister B enjoyed the song at the time, but again, he does not have a copy and hasn’t heard it in a very long time. Why are the lyrics so memorable to songs you don’t hear very often?

You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice — Lovin’ Spoonful (1965)
Stepping out of bed one morning, Mister B could only smile at this one. It made him remember his school days, when kids had a constant struggle to get people to like them, especially when they were discovering the opposite sex. Besides, for us old people, it’s still a cool tune.

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother — Kelly Gordon (1969)
Written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell, the song was originally recorded by Kelly Gordon. It was the Hollies who had the big hit with the song when they released their version that same year. Interesting enough, Elton John was playing piano on the Hollies recording.

Not exactly a favorite of Mister B, it was certainly one of the most covered songs of 1969. It has been recorded by dozens of artists, including Al Green, Cher, Olivia Newton John, Neil Diamond, The Osmonds, Jimmy Ruffin, Glen Campbell and Danny Hathaway, to name a few. Mister B isn’t at all sure which version made its way into his early morning brain, but seeing as the Hollies version got more radio play, that was probably it.

Let’s Live for Today — The Grass Roots (1967)
Tra la la la la la live for today, and don’t worry ’bout tomorrow … hey
Could there be a more descriptive sentiment to voice what was forming just before the Summer of Love than these lyrics? The song was an adaptation of an Italian song, but the lyrics were rewritten for an English audience and recorded in the UK by the Rokes and also The Living Daylights in 1966. The Grass Roots version made it a worldwide sensation. It is said to have become a real hit with servicemen in Vietnam, too. Seems an appropriate song for a boomer to wake up to, no?

Mister Boomer does not know why songs are making their way into his internal playlist, especially those that he hasn’t heard in quite a while. Perhaps it is a sign of an aging boomer tripping on nostalgia. Nonetheless, he’s glad (all over) to have such a vast, varied and fantastic array of music from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s that his brain can choose from when he drops the record player arm on another day.

How about you, boomers? Do you have music flashbacks? What waking songs are blowing through the jasmine of your minds lately?