Tiny Records

Before my i-pod and before Pandora radio, I listened to cds. Before cds I bought cassette tapes. Before cassette tapes there were albums, and before albums were my siblings' abandoned 45s. After years of sitting at the bottom of a bedroom closet, the 45s are a bit warped now but I cannot bear to part with them. I remember playing them on my little gray record player that I kept in my bedroom. It made frequent trips out to the garage on Minuteman Drive when I went through my rollerskating dance phase. I sang, danced, and roller skated to songs such as Help by The Beatles. Help I need someone. Help! Not just anyone! Help! You know I need someone. Help! Or Hot Sand by Shocking Blue. Hot sand. Na na na.. I'm walkin' in the hot sand. Na na na. Makin' love on the hot sand. Na na na. Together with you, yeah, yeah, yeah. (Okay, the Na na nas were my own addition I think).

Later there would be (gulp) DISCO songs. My friends and I somehow got away with choreographing Donna Summer's Bad Girls (Mom and Dad, did you ever listen to my music?) and found it really funny to learn what a hooker was in our preteen years. Then came sweet songs by Olivia Newton-John (before her out of character Physical album), like Suddenly. The onslaught of the 80s hit then and I began purchasing more and more 45s before moving on to cassette tapes. But it's the old "tiny records" that I inherited that bring back the best memories... well, with the exception of Barbara Mandrell's If Loving You is Wrong which for some strange reason was acted out numerous times in very sad "Variety Shows" that I'd force my friends to perform day after day for the audience of my all-too-patient parents.

I learned early on that I had days, weeks, months, years of songs to sing, dance to, and otherwise perform. I may have hung up my roller skates long ago but the places I've traveled to, the lives I've envisioned, and the joys music have brought me are unending.