First, if not Foremost

[captainsblog]

Today wound up being one of those busy-as-a-weekday weekend days. Cranked out still more of the midweek backlog, returned to various banks for today's thrilling episode of We Can't Tell You When Your Client's Check Will Be Good (until and unless it is, and it was! Yay!), endured the ValenLine at the Post Office for the third day running, and got my car washed for the third time this salt season.

It's hardly a matter of vanity, so much as necessity; the highway departments around here use so much of the damn stuff, in bright sunlight you really can't see out your side windows from the salt piled up to the roof. The local car wash mavens run a special where you get a second free wash if claimed within five days of the first, and various charities sell these "Super Kisses" as fundraisers, so I've been watching my travel calendar and hoping the re-salting between now and Thursday will be it for awhile when I return for the rewash that afternoon.

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And this has to do with music, what?

Just that while getting my gas (three cents off with the wash, w00t!) before going through the Delta Sonic Tunnel of Love™, the radio in the pump area and at the register had one of the oldest songs I can remember hearing: Lesley Gore's "California Nights."  I definitely associate this song with some guest TV appearance she did sometime in my extreme formative years- maybe a Batman episode? Yes, this one from 1967 would be the right time, and IMDB says she sang it- but if it was that late, I clearly had quite a bit of discography under my belt by then. My sisters had introduced me to the Beatles, Joan Baez, and Simon & Garfunkel well before that time, and I was already listening to the local hit music stations which brought much of the 60s- admittedly, little of the enduring part, more of the three-minute bubble-gum and girl-group variety- into my consciousness.

It did connect me to this question, though: what was the first song I did have a recollection of hearing?

Somewhat amazingly, I can answer that question precisely: title, artist, year and even the station (WMCA, back when it, rather than WABC, was the big breakthrough voice of rock and roll in New York). The year would have been 1966, and the song would have been, and still is, this one by a Pittsburgh native named Lou Christie:

Lightning Strikes

You may not have heard of Lou, but such legendary follow-on artists as Elton John, John Lennon and Madonna all acknowledged debts of gratitude to him. I doubt I've heard this song in more than a decade, but I enjoyed the stream of consciousness that got its mp3 onto my disk and, now, onto this page.

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So what's yours?

Give it some thought. There must be one Music Alpha song you can remember from earlier back than any other. Comment about it. Send it if ya got it. Share the memory, while there's still memory to share (you'll understand when you're older).

Comments

[baseballchica03.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there was something before that, but the first thing I remember really, really clearly is the Beach Boys' Kokomo, 1988, which would have made me six when it came out, seven by the end of the year.

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

That's a good choice- not that you get all that much choice about what you remember from that young.

I meant to thank you for the audiography links from the other day. Not all were my cuppa, but the one that is- Jonathan Edwards's "Sunshine," has been on the player and in my head all day. For a guy who faded fast, he certainly left his musical mark, between that and the even more beloved-to-me "Shanty" (or as known all over FM radio, the "Friday song"). I've got that if you need it.

[chapter5.livejournal.com]

Sounds of Silence- Paul and Art

Very vivid memory. Fell down on hardwood floor when I was a wee, wee, weeeeee one. Heard that song playing as I was being consoled.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

I know this one came out before I was born, but I remember so clearly hearing "These Boots Are Made For Walking" and absolutely LOVING the bassline and..just everything about it. That is such a fantastic song in so many ways. It's still one of my absolute favorites.

As for "alpha bands", I'd have to say ABBA. They were the first band that I loved all on my own (not because of my parents influence) and as with all things that interest me, I quickly became totally obsessed with them.

[luckycee.livejournal.com]

I remember and loved Lou Christie. That song brings back memories of hot summer nights listening to WBBF on a transitor with an earplug, Ferdinand J. Smith at the helm.

I don't know precisely what song I heard first, but my first impulse is to say "Paperback Writer."

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

The first song I remember hearing was Kenny Rogers' The Gambler. However, my mother tells me that the first song I ever reacted to was Fleetwood Mac's Rhiannon which I apparently reacted to whilst in utero when she and my Dad were at a concert. This would be why I was almost named Rhiannon-- and given that I currently want to study a type of cavalry at a Welsh uni, I think it would've been apt. :P

[headbanger118.livejournal.com]

My sister is 4 years older than me, so my first rock music is via her. I clearly remember listening to "The Dog and The Butterfly" and "Baracuda" by Heart. As for music in general, I was raised on Big Band courtesy of my dad, and I can remember Glen Miller's "In the Mood" being played before I even started elementary school.

[sturgeonslawyer.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure which of two songs is chronologically earlier in my world.

One is "Winchester Cathedral." I have no idea whose version. But I remember it very clearly.

The other is not only hearing but seeing: I remember, and I guess I would have been five, being absolutely riveted by the sight and sound of John, Paul, George, and Ringo singing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" during their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was a weekly ritual in my family, and my grandparents were over that day. My parents and grandfather hated them. My grandmother (pbuh) and I loved them.

Not long after that, I fell passionately in love with Diana Ross...