I was in sixth grade at the start of 1975. At Perkins School in Chicago I was a patrol boy, which meant standing on an assigned street corner and controlling when students could cross. Along with the assignment, us patrol boys got to leave class early and get together for a special patrol gym class once a week. This latter “perk” was not exactly to my liking or skill set since I couldn’t throw a football or hit a softball. Nevertheless, I made it through and developed a few friends along the way.
I can’t help feeling my own childhood experience paralleling with yours 10 miles to the south. I love your raw honesty in this. I’m just repeatedly moved by the clicking tock of music moving forward. And I love you.
Fascinating reading this. The combined trauma of moving away from all you knew AND being the notoriously difficult middle school age is quite the double whammy. Glad there was music and TV for you to seek shelter.
I thought the video for Please Mr. Postman was something. Here’s a song about loneliness and feeling abandoned (not unlike Rainy Days and Mondays) and here they are bopping around Disneyland having the time of their lives. Intentionally ironic? Who knows. Good list of songs, though. Will have to revisit my songs from that year.
Loved Elton John's "Island Girl" ... so fun to hear on the bus radio on the way to school. Did you catch the Gershwin Prize show on PBS with Elton and Bernie? Very moving. Great piece, Dan!
My age 12/6th grade year was about the time I, too, started turning inward, and being filled with self-doubt and introspection (for me, that year was about 1967...we have about 8 years between us). I'm thankful, though, that we stayed put. We moved into a suburban Houston house in '60, just as my bro and I were starting kindergarten. We were half-a-block from our elementary school, and 3 blocks away from our eventual high school, so, walking to school was our thang! Biking to junior high, about 2 miles away, was our adolescent exercise!
I love hearing how pulled into the TV schedule you were. I was similar. Of course, I had my endless stream of promo albums coming in from Dad, but when I wasn't locked into my room (so my pesky brother wouldn't bother me) listening to vinyl, I was locked into the TV of the day (network weeknight prime time, mostly)....
I even, very Dan-like, took my cassette recorder (late '60s), and placed it up to the TV speaker during the opening to "Hawaii Five-O" (loved the theme), and I'd push "Play" and "record" when "The Partridge Family" was on (1970 or '71), and we had to go out! Sure, I was only using a 60-minute cassette, and it would only record 30 minutes (and turn off automatically), but if I waited to push the buttons til just when we were called to the car (and, hopefully right at 7 o'clock on the dot!), I could come home and replay the audio of the whole show!! Pop culture animals we were!!!
Loved your "Tryin' to Get the Feeling" mention. Its composer, David Pomeranz, is a good friend of FR&B, and has likely read some of our articles. FR&B exclusive contributor, Stephen Michael Schwartz, and he have been good friends since the mid-'70s (if not longer)---singer/songwriters hang together!
BTW, David's version, and the Barry cover and the Carpenters' rare cover of "Tryin' to Get the Feelin'" (recorded in '75, but not released until '94 on a compilation CD) all feature different verses!
I really look forward to these Wednesday and Saturday installments of your Top Ten Memoir! It’s really incredible!
I was a TV junkie, too. Although I don’t remember Sunshine and We’ll Get By, I remember every other show on your list. I didn’t really watch the police shows (except for Baretta) or the Medical shows (I did watch Emergency! But I think that was later … had a crush on Randy Mantooth who played Johnny Gage). I also remember how all the new shows premiered in September and I’d get mad if they moved shows around and made my favorite shows come on at the same time. Ahhh the difficulty of being a TV fanatic in the days before VCRs and DVDs and Hulu😜🤣😜
Ok here’s my 1975 list. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m including three songs that I specifically recall liking a lot, even though they may prompt you to question my musical tastes (No, “I’m Not Lisa” didn’t make the list, even though, as you know I do remember the first verse.). They’re marked with asterisks. These, as usual, are not in any particular order
Only Yesterday (Carpenters)
My Eyes Adored You (Frankie Valli)
Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Elton John)
Best of My Love (Eagles)
Please Mr. Postman (Carpenters)
Some Kind of Wonderful (Grand Funk Railroad)
Lonely People (America)
* Calypso (John Denver) … I really liked The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and this was about his ship
* Saturday Night (Bay City Rollers) … oh those cute Scottish lads 🤣🤣🤣
* Believe It Or Not/Theme from The Greatest American Hero (Joey Scarbury) … I noticed that show wasn’t on your list 😉
I can’t help feeling my own childhood experience paralleling with yours 10 miles to the south. I love your raw honesty in this. I’m just repeatedly moved by the clicking tock of music moving forward. And I love you.
Fascinating reading this. The combined trauma of moving away from all you knew AND being the notoriously difficult middle school age is quite the double whammy. Glad there was music and TV for you to seek shelter.
I thought the video for Please Mr. Postman was something. Here’s a song about loneliness and feeling abandoned (not unlike Rainy Days and Mondays) and here they are bopping around Disneyland having the time of their lives. Intentionally ironic? Who knows. Good list of songs, though. Will have to revisit my songs from that year.
Loved Elton John's "Island Girl" ... so fun to hear on the bus radio on the way to school. Did you catch the Gershwin Prize show on PBS with Elton and Bernie? Very moving. Great piece, Dan!
My age 12/6th grade year was about the time I, too, started turning inward, and being filled with self-doubt and introspection (for me, that year was about 1967...we have about 8 years between us). I'm thankful, though, that we stayed put. We moved into a suburban Houston house in '60, just as my bro and I were starting kindergarten. We were half-a-block from our elementary school, and 3 blocks away from our eventual high school, so, walking to school was our thang! Biking to junior high, about 2 miles away, was our adolescent exercise!
I love hearing how pulled into the TV schedule you were. I was similar. Of course, I had my endless stream of promo albums coming in from Dad, but when I wasn't locked into my room (so my pesky brother wouldn't bother me) listening to vinyl, I was locked into the TV of the day (network weeknight prime time, mostly)....
I even, very Dan-like, took my cassette recorder (late '60s), and placed it up to the TV speaker during the opening to "Hawaii Five-O" (loved the theme), and I'd push "Play" and "record" when "The Partridge Family" was on (1970 or '71), and we had to go out! Sure, I was only using a 60-minute cassette, and it would only record 30 minutes (and turn off automatically), but if I waited to push the buttons til just when we were called to the car (and, hopefully right at 7 o'clock on the dot!), I could come home and replay the audio of the whole show!! Pop culture animals we were!!!
Loved your "Tryin' to Get the Feeling" mention. Its composer, David Pomeranz, is a good friend of FR&B, and has likely read some of our articles. FR&B exclusive contributor, Stephen Michael Schwartz, and he have been good friends since the mid-'70s (if not longer)---singer/songwriters hang together!
Stephen and David have collabbed a lot, including on this song (in the late '70s), which Stephen shares with us a rare demo song file, and tells all about it, here: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/stephen-michael-schwartz-off-the-9f9
BTW, David's version, and the Barry cover and the Carpenters' rare cover of "Tryin' to Get the Feelin'" (recorded in '75, but not released until '94 on a compilation CD) all feature different verses!
I really look forward to these Wednesday and Saturday installments of your Top Ten Memoir! It’s really incredible!
I was a TV junkie, too. Although I don’t remember Sunshine and We’ll Get By, I remember every other show on your list. I didn’t really watch the police shows (except for Baretta) or the Medical shows (I did watch Emergency! But I think that was later … had a crush on Randy Mantooth who played Johnny Gage). I also remember how all the new shows premiered in September and I’d get mad if they moved shows around and made my favorite shows come on at the same time. Ahhh the difficulty of being a TV fanatic in the days before VCRs and DVDs and Hulu😜🤣😜
Ok here’s my 1975 list. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m including three songs that I specifically recall liking a lot, even though they may prompt you to question my musical tastes (No, “I’m Not Lisa” didn’t make the list, even though, as you know I do remember the first verse.). They’re marked with asterisks. These, as usual, are not in any particular order
Only Yesterday (Carpenters)
My Eyes Adored You (Frankie Valli)
Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Elton John)
Best of My Love (Eagles)
Please Mr. Postman (Carpenters)
Some Kind of Wonderful (Grand Funk Railroad)
Lonely People (America)
* Calypso (John Denver) … I really liked The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and this was about his ship
* Saturday Night (Bay City Rollers) … oh those cute Scottish lads 🤣🤣🤣
* Believe It Or Not/Theme from The Greatest American Hero (Joey Scarbury) … I noticed that show wasn’t on your list 😉
Tough times for you. Sorry I was in my own world finishing high school then starting college. Wish I could have been there for you.