Dat Voice: My Life and The Four Seasons

We had a radio station that played nothing but oldies music when I grew up. Those were good times.

Actually, I tuned it to Oldies 1150 AM out of Hamilton, and 1050 Chum from Toronto, and from there I bounced back and forth. Every Sunday, Oldies 1150 would play nothing but Elvis Presley from 8am to 9am, and then nothing but Beatles music the following hour. That was some sweet music to listen to as you're putting on your Sunday best, leaving your room, being told by Mom and Dad (mostly Dad) to wear something else, returning to your room to change, and trying again.

I did have one pet peeve with Oldies radio stations: Mmm-bop music. At least four times a day, I could count on both radio stations to play The Four Seasons, and each time I could feel my eardrums liquify under the mind-numbing shrill. I'm sure Frankie Valli is a nice guy, and the Four Seasons are a lovely bunch of guys, but the plastic mmm-bop music of the fifties drove me insane. Why is my foot tapping to "Sherry"? Since when could I sing the words to "Big Girls Don't Cry"? Why do I love what I hate so much?! AHH!



Perhaps I should write a 50's mmm-bop song to exorcise my childhood demons? At least I would become part of the madness that engulfed my pre-teen to teenage years, and my song would live in the memory and liquified eardrums of another young soul.

"Sheerrrr-rrrrrr-rrryyyy ba-aa-by, Sheeerrrryyy, won't you come out tonight...? Oops, turn off speech to document application...!"

As you can see, I'm a tad conflicted, if not confused. Some of my fondest memories growing up revolved around Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons: My first day at high school, my first car, driving to the Dairy Cream to hang out with friends are all great times and the "Jersey Boys" were involved in some way. Maybe mmm-bop music isn't all bad; compared to today's stuff, I would prefer the Four Seasons for its originality, harmonies, and lack of auto-tuned wackiness.

Play it again, Frankie ^_^ Wait, what did I say? o_O

Speaking of music, I launched another YouTube channel this spring. I upload nothing but music videos on it, and so far the reception was pretty good. It's called "Philhazmusic", and if you click on the link it will take you to the channel page where you can listen to what I posted so far and SUBSCRIBE for more updates. It's not on the level of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, unfortunately, but I hope you enjoy it.