.
.
I enjoyed a wonder-filled childhood, and in my early teenage years, I spent most Summer days at Santa Monica Beach, near lifeguard station #26.
.
It was all about body-surfing, girl-watching, body-surfing and “Bain de Soleil for the St. Tropez tan”.
.
For me, there was no such thing then as
"the dog days of Summer".
.
.
1974:
Ridin' 'round town with all the windows down
Eight-track playin' all your favorite sounds
The rhythm of the bongos fill the park
The street musicians tryin' to get a start
.
'Cause it's Summer
Summer time is here
Yes it's summer
My time of year
.
Eight-track playin' all your favorite sounds
The rhythm of the bongos fill the park
The street musicians tryin' to get a start
.
'Cause it's Summer
Summer time is here
Yes it's summer
My time of year
.
Stretched out on a blanket in the sand
Kids of all ages diggin' DisneylandRappin' on the C.B. radio in your van
We'll give a big "ten four" to the truckin' man
.
'Cause it's summer
Summer time is here
Yes, it's summer
My time of year
.
Summer time is here
Yes, it's summer
My time of year
.
In Atlantic City or out in Malibu
Or any where between, I'm telling you
When you feel those balmy breezes on your face
Summer time is the best time any place
.
Or any where between, I'm telling you
When you feel those balmy breezes on your face
Summer time is the best time any place
.
'Cause it's summer
Summer time is here
Yes, it's summer
My time of year
Summer time is here
Yes, it's summer
My time of year
My previous blog bits pertaining to 'The Soundtrack Of My Life' (TSOML) can be found by clicking the links below:
TSOML #1 - Prelude To An Introduction
TSOML #2- Introduction
TSOML #3 - 1959
TSOML #1 - Prelude To An Introduction
TSOML #2- Introduction
TSOML #3 - 1959
TSOML #4 - 1967
For more TSOML participants, visit the blog of GIRL WONDER ('Your Daily Dose') by clicking HERE.
~ Stephen T. McCarthy
For more TSOML participants, visit the blog of GIRL WONDER ('Your Daily Dose') by clicking HERE.
~ Stephen T. McCarthy
It makes me happy knowing you had ..." a wonder-filled childhood..." and spent most of your teenage years at the beach! I'm sitting here smiling just thinking about it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, BECKY-O! ~
DeleteI wish it could have remained so. In recent years, things have gotten to the point that I greatly look forward to my future in an urn.
~ D-FensDogG
'Loyal American Underground'
I'd like to see a whole post of young, happy Stephen pictures. What changed your attitude or outlook? One thing? Many? Or are you like me: just tired of being disappointed in people?
ReplyDeleteI've had enough hard knocks to make you nauseous. My mother always says "why are you not writing a book?"
'Cause I don't want to remember, Ma.
DOC CHERDO ~
DeleteWhy? Is there something wrong with my attitude or outlook?
Well, you don't want me to spill all the beans and spoil all the musical surprises to come, do ya?
It sounds like your life is good now. Mine went the opposite way: good to bad.
Oh, well, I guess most of us get some sun and some rain. But my question now is: Who'll Stop The Rain?
~ D-FensDogG
What a great memory! This sounds like a more realistic Gidget movie or Beach, Blanket Bongo movie. You should not think an urn is a better place to be unless Barbara Eden is in there with you on some comfy pink cushions:)
ReplyDeleteHa! BIRGIT, my friend, I definitely wouldn't complain about spending time in an urn with Barbara Eden. Heck, I wouldn't even bitch 'bout the pink cushions.
Delete~ D-FensDogG
LOL: I saw that lifeguard tower and instantly thought BAY WATCH. David Hasselhoff in speedo's! Did you look like that?
ReplyDeleteDONNA ~
Delete[:-)}
It would be a cold day in hell when I'd be seen in Speedos!
I can see how you'd make the Bay Watch connection. It was filmed in the area, and most of the lifeguard stations were designed that way and painted that color from Malibu to Torrance.
~ D-FensDogG
Sounds like an idyllic time. I was never much of one for the beach though I did go to see just about every beach/surf movie that played at the old Crown Theater in Crown Point, Indiana. Loved those films!
ReplyDeleteSummer was a great time for me to in my childhood and teen years. It's still pretty good especially like now when my wife is on vacation and we can travel across country. I'm close to Atlantic City where I am now. We'll probably go to the boardwalk, but that's as close as I'll get to the beach though that's pretty darn close.
Hope your new job is going well for you and you're having a good summer as an adult.
Lee
Wrote By Rote
First shower!!
ReplyDeleteHa!-Ha!
DeleteActually, your first attempt at this comment DID come through, but I deleted it because it was from an "Anonymous" person and IT DIDN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! (Or so I thought.)
But now, suddenly, I "get" it, and it makes perfect sense. Ha!
Well, you called it, so you get "first shower". Guess I'll just have to wait - with all this dried salt water on my back and shoulders - and make myself a canned egg-salad sandwich.
Man, the memories we have, eh?
~ D-FensDogG
"SHOTGUN!"
Delete"You can't call it for the whole night. Get in the back, punk!"
~ D-FensDogG
Al Bondigas here. After showering and a little ice cream, how about a game of pickle? Or wiffleball?
DeleteWhatchoo got against a game of 'STRIKEOUT', with a tennis ball? I know... you're a racist, because you hate anything neon-green colored!
DeleteHa!
Man, we had it made and never even realized it until much later.
And speaking of ice cream: ...Here near my home is a GROCERY OUTLET store that carries a lot of really neat items. I just recently discovered (at $2.99 a pint) 'STEVE'S ICE CREAM'.
My first few bites of 'Small Batch Bourbon Vanilla' had me thinking: "Oooh! This is weird-tasting". But after awhile, I realized it tasted "weird" ONLY because it was loaded with REAL bourbon, and not just some bourbon-flavored substitute.
Hokey-Smoke! This stuffs is GREAT! One could probably get drunk eating it. And Steve's 'Southern Banana Pudding' ice cream is great, too! ...I hate to admit it but... Reno/Sparks isn't ALL bad.
~ D-FensDogG
Loved it! Can you believe I'd never heard the song before? (Though I was but a year old in the summer of '74 ;) ) -- but Disneyland was a huge part of my childhood, and my dad had an Anaheim van with a CB radio, haha. Cool memories, Stephen. I've been meaning to join the Soundtrack group, but can't seem to actually get to it. I will. Soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visit over at Quiet Laughter ; I'm beyond pleased that you liked the Teddy post :) (Which has absolutely no contradiction to being the manliest man of men. Of course.)
GUILIE ~
DeleteI wonder if I'll ever learn to type your name without looking to see how it's spelled.
Wow! Hard to believe this song was new for you. It was a big hit in '76 - #7 on the Billboard charts. However, it doesn't seem to get played on Classic Rock stations anymore, so that might account for it.
Looking up its chart position, I was surprised to find that 'The Cisco Kid' was War's biggest hit. I would have sworn it was 'Why Can't We Be Friends?', because back then you couldn't turn on a radio without hearing it.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I've been to 'The Happiest Place On Earth'. And I remember well the CB radio craze. I even had one in my 1970 fastback Mustang. My handle back then was "Free Bird". Funny because I don't even like that song anymore.
~ D-FensDogG
I didn't first see the beach until I was 23 years old. I can only imagine how great a beach-filled childhood would have been.
ReplyDeleteI dig the song, but I especially like that it references an eight track player. Blast from the past. Then again, in this day and age, kids are already laughing at the thought of "jamming out to my CD player."
Summer is definitely my time of year. I love Colorado, but the winters here are miserable.
~6B
Oh, yeah, I can imagine how awful Colorado Winters are. No, thank you!
DeleteIn the video, when it shows the 8-track tape cartridge in the car's player, I looked close to get the title: 'MACHINE HEAD' by DEEP PURPLE.
Early last week I mentioned that album to a co-worker. I asked him to name a Classic Rock title with the word "machine" in it. He said, "Ghost In The Machine' and 'Welcome To The Machine'. The latter one was a good guess, because he and I both dig Pink Floyd and David Gilmour's guitar playing.
But when I told him that neither of those were what I had in mind, he asked for a clue and I started to sing: "Nobody gonna take my car..." He got it IMMEDIATELY after that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr9oLcSN9SQ
Uhm... is THAT a driving song? Is that one for the road? Ha! Shee-eee-eesh! "Where have all the Rock songs gone?"
~ D-FensDogG
I'd not heard that song before, but now, for some reason, I have a strong urge to just hop in my Mustang and tear up the road. Absolutely no idea why...
DeleteEight cylinders all mine
Alright hold on tight
I'm a highway star
If Highway Star isn't the definition of a good driving song, I don't know what is.
~6B
6-B ~
DeleteSome years back we did a blogfest: "Favorite Drinkin' And Drivin' Songs".
Not sure, but I think I may have done a bonehead thing and left 'HIGHWAY STAR' off my list. (I need to go back and check.)
But I KNOW I included 'RADAR LOVE' by Golden Earring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAvrBsp_ULU
To me, that one probably really IS the ultimate driving song. Has no car company ever used it in a commercial? If not, what a bunch of bonehead ad guys!
And as a bonus, we even get Brenda Lee name-dropped! Who could ask for more?
You have inspired me to consider re-doing my Drinking and Driving songs list and posting them here. That was back in my 'STUFFS' days, so they would be new for a lotta folks here at 'STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS'.
If I screwbally left 'HIGHWAY STAR' off last time, you can be sure I will correct that oversight this next time.
~ D-FensDogG
Actually, I very vividly remember that post. I do remember that Radar Love was my favorite of the list, and I also would remember if Highway Star was a part of it. It was not. In fact, in my personal opinion, I may enjoy Highway Star just a tad more than Radar Love, though I'd definitely want both on my ultimate driving soundtrack.
DeleteAnd to answer your question, Radar Love has been used in car commercials. Most recently for the boy racer Subaru WRX.
Subaru WRX - Radar Love
Subaru is the last thing I think of when I think of a song like Radar Love, but... hey, royalties is royalties, right?
~6B
6-B ~
DeleteToo much Subaru and not enough 'Radar Love' in that commercial, but at least someone was thinkin' in the right direction.
I don't really like seeing good hit songs being used in TV commercials (it 'bout killed me when 'Good Vibrations' was used in that way). But at the same time, it would seem like a bit of a waste if no car company had ever secured the right to use 'Radar Love'.
~ D-FensDogG
I looked at this at work but never made it back.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of fond memories of the Jersey shore, although it would be a few weeks per summer as opposed to every day for you...although when that War song came out my vehicle was my trusty Peugeot...
Cars played much less of a role in my younger years-I was out of my teens before I owned one.
I remember being pretty young (still a kid) when I started getting those sad feelings about things not staying the same. I know the beach town in Jersey (Vetnor City) we summered at is not the same, and I imagine you notice a lot of changes when you venture back to the old neighborhood.
But what really stinks is that I have gotten older and those beach girls are still in their late teens and early twenties!
DR. DISCDUDE ~
DeleteYou hit on some points that really make me think.
I don't really know much about the Jersey Shore. I've been there (and found the site of the cover of Bruce Springsteen's first album) but that's about all I can say 'bout it.
However, Santa Monica Beach seems to have stayed pretty much the same - or at least that was true the last time I was there, maybe 4 years ago.
That photo of Station 26, looks just like it did in 1974. We always put our beach towels in the sand just below that wooden "X". And I was totally blessed by God to grow up about 18 blocks East of that lifeguard station. So, I really was there about 5 or 6 days per week "All Summer Long".
Nappy and I and our friends - even before we had drivers' licenses - would either walk or take the bus to the beach. Sometimes the 18-block walks were the best because it gave us time to act stupid, tell funny jokes and stories.
In an earlier comment, Nappy referred to calling for "First Shower", and I mentioned the canned egg salad sandwiches... those were MAJOR moments in our Summer Beach Days from about 1974-1977.
I would give EVERYTHING to be able to go back to those times and re-live them!
~ D-FensDogG
'Loyal American Underground'
I know what you mean about reliving the old days. I would get that feeling every summer (especially once I started actually getting a summer girlfriend) when we'd be down to a couple of days left before going home-you know the one where you wish things could go on and you know they can't.
DeleteI can conclude from the photo that Jersey lifeguards must be tougher than their California counterparts.
Santa Monica lifeguards have a ramp to walk up-in Jersey they gotta climb!
I would imagine the different design could be due to the average California beach being wider (from water to street)-a lot of Jersey beaches are literally blanket to blanket, so that space for the ramp would be high rent.
Or maybe California carpenters are smarter than their New Jersey counterparts...
Ha! Not really sure about the ramps, but I think ALL Southern California lifeguard stations have 'em.
DeleteMaybe they're thinking the fastest way to the water (when every second counts) is a run down a ramp, rather than a climb down a ladder.
Or maybe the union demanded the ramps because SoCal lifeguards are too lazy to climb.
Got me!
~ D-FensDogG
You had the kind of life I'd see portrayed in movies, tv and advertisements. I always wondered if any of that was as good as it looked and it's nice to know that it was, for some people. I can see why you'd want to go back a relive it all again.
ReplyDeleteFor me 1974 (and most of the 70's) was about drums and Led Zeppelin. A band you probably hate, but one I'm willing to get into a fistfight to defend. In 74, "When The Levee Breaks" came out and the beat Bonzo laid down on that was so simple, so powerful and so perfect. I just couldn't get enough of that simple song. Hated Stairway to Heaven though as all the people who formerly hated Zep glommed onto them. I wanted to kill those people :0)
ANNE O' ~
DeleteYeah, I admit it, when I was young, I had the life of Riley (whoever he was).
I suppose you were in Ireland in 1974. I don't know what it was like in Ireland, but I can tell you that 'STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN' (released here in 1971) was definitely the Rock song of my generation. But when it was released, Led Zep was already huge, Huge, HUGE. 'STH' merely solidified them as "The Rock Band of the '70s".
Their second album was the third album I owned (after 'The Monkees' and 'Get Ready' by Rare Earth).
They were never one of my very favorite groups, and I don't own anything by them today, but I wouldn't say I "hate" them. A few of their songs I like, and 'WHAT IS AND WHAT SHOULD NEVER BE' is a song I love. Easily my favorite Led Zep song.
What I really don't like about them is that in their earlier years, they totally ripped off some great American Bluesmen but didn't give those legends any credit.
Also, they most definitely hid a reference to 'lucifer" in 'STH', and that bugs me.
So, when it comes to them, I'm kind of "eh". But 'STH' was so big here throughout the Seventies, that there's no disputing it was "THE" song of a generation.
~ D-FensDogG
Zep wasn't as big in Ireland or the UK, it was the US that made them wealthy. The Hubbby says all you guys had proms with STH themes.
DeleteZep, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Cream and early Genesis were the bands that meant the most to me in my formative years. Their drummers were the ones I learned from. And there's never been a time in my life that I haven't had their albums in my collection. Those are the bands I still listen to nearly every day. I know you dislike The Beatles and I doubt the other bands are high on your list of favourites. We do share an intense appreciation for Jazz and that's a good thing as I don't find many people who truly appreciate it.
Anyway, I do hope your job is going well and that life is moving forward for you.
ANNE ~
DeleteYeah, I'm not a big Beatles fan. (I was in high school though.) But I do like quite a few songs from "The White Album" (which I own) and 'Abbey Road'. In other words, when they stopped playing up all that "psychedelic" stuffs such as found in 'Sgt. Pepper's' and 'Magical Mystery Tour'.
And, true, not a big can of Cream or Genesis but... Pink Floyd? Oh, yeah! Still own 'DSOTM' and 'Wish You Were Here', and there was a time in my late teens when I played 'Ummagumma' and 'Meddle' damn near to death! (Used to listen through headphones and then draw the images that came to my mind.)
Thanks for the good wishes, my friend!
~ D-FensDogG
Given how much music means to you I have to wonder why you never picked up an instrument and played. Just from talking to you online, I know you can "feel" music in the same way a musician does. It seems to be in your bones as it were.
DeleteIs there a particular instrument that ever seemed to "speak to you" in a language you felt you'd known since before you were born?
ANNE O' ~
DeleteVery, very kind of you to say!
Yes, you're right, too - I do "feel" music in a way well beyond just tapping my toe or wanting to dance. It's deeper than that, but music is spiritual in nature, which is why the effect of it is so difficult to really explain or describe.
When I was about... oh... maybe 12 years old, I took guitar lessons for awhile. Not long. But my teacher was always rough with me, pulling on my fingers to form chords, as if I were being lazy. Truth was, my hands were small and my fingers short (I was only 12) and this old geezer didn't seem to comprehend that I COULDN'T stretch to the frets.
After awhile, I came to dread the lessons, and so my Ma stopped paying for them. I'd like to blame a bad guitar teacher for ruining my career in music, but if I'd had enough interest AT THAT TIME, I would have found a new teacher or become self-taught.
I was always drawn to the arts, but I had TOO MANY interests and that prevented me from focusing and mastering just one. I loved writing, acting, drawing/painting, and music, but I was scattered.
By about my 4th decade, I realized that MUSIC is what I should have focused my career goals on. Oh, well, next lifetime fo' sure!
Like most teenaged boys, I felt it was all about Rock, and Rock was all about the electric guitar. Then I discovered the Blues, and that led me to Jazz, where tenor saxophone became my favorite instrument.
Sometime later, I came to realize that the B-3 is the sound I love most, and I had always loved it. I don't want to mention the song where I FIRST noticed the B-3 because I intend to use it in a BOTB someday and don't want to give away my vote now.
However, it's funny that it took me so long to understand WHY 'LAZY' was always my favorite song on Deep Purple's 'Machine Head' (even above 'Smoke On The Water').
Today, I "get" it - I get that electric organ sound IMMEDIATELY. Add a dollop of B-3 on a song and my ears shoot up like antennas on steroids.
Some favorite players are Booker T. Jones (of course), Jimmy Smith (of course), Bill Doggett, and Joey DeFrancesco.
If I had it to do all over again, I would forget the other arts, focus on music, and concentrate on mastering the B-3.
Drums are really cool too, though! [:-)} (I simply adore that Joe Morello weirdo!)
~ Stephen
If I could go back in time, I'd slap the shit out of that teacher for you. People like that kill things that should never be killed.
DeleteYou're not dead yet and you could still learn to play. Now a B3 would set you back about five grand, but there are other options available.
Seriously, when you've some money ahead, do some reading on specs and find something that would satisfy you at a reasonable price. Then just sit down in front of the instrument, close your eyes and play. You might be surprised and find out you intuitively know how to play.
My brother sat behind a drum kit at age 56 and found out he could play. Never tried it before, not once. It was in him, just waiting.
Do it, do it, do it!
Ha! Thanks for the passion and interest, ANNE O'. There's no doubt my old guitar teacher is now pushing up daisies, but if he weren't, I'd send you to dog his trail and get my revenge. :-)
DeleteYep, if I ever get that kind of money ahead (which is unlikely), I'd consider doing what you say. I'm much too old to master that instrument, but maybe I could get a headstart on it for my next life. While I love so many others, too, that's the one musical instrument that cuts deepest into my soul.
Thankfully, in the meantime, I have some great CDs with my favorite B-3 playing on them, and one artist in particular who makes my head spin when he plugs in and lets the electricity flow out.
~ Stephen
I'm really enjoying your 'blasts from the past'. Probably what I like best about your STOML posts is that you use actual songs from the time period in your life. I've skimmed some of the other STOML posts and it seems some people retrofit their life to songs that came out much later (it's whoevers blog and they can do what they want, but I like what you're doing much better). This is authentically a soundtrack from the life and times of STMc and I likes it.
ReplyDeleteI always like the Group War, their song 'Cisco Kid' being my favorite. A concert I regret missing was just a about six or seven months ago in Reno when they headlined with Cheech and Chong. THAT sounded like it would have been fun.
FAE ~
DeleteThanks! Really glad you like it!
Yep, you're right, I'm using songs that I was aware of and liked that fit what was going on in my life around the time they were released and/or getting airplay (or at least a lotta playing time on my stereo).
In this case, the song came out in 1976 but it described my Summer days from 1974 all the way through '77.
I think this pattern will hold MOSTLY true throughout my 'TSOML' blog bits. There might be an exception here or there - or even a "retro" view - but mostly, I am indeed using songs that I was listening to at the time the events were occurring.
War sharing the stage with Cheech Y Chong would have been a helluva great concert, I'm certain. Damn! Wish I could have been there for that, too!
~ D-FensDogG
Your Santa Monica life was not that far off from my own. Enough off to note, but still close. One difference was it happened about 3 to 5 years earlier.
ReplyDeleteWe lived in San Diego county but not as close to the beach as you did. As you know, I've visited your beach (and YOUR lifeguard station!) and that would have been the #1 awesomest place in LA to grow up, I think.
But the words of this War song do sum up summers in SOCAL. We would go the beach in Del Mar and La Jolla 3 out of 4 Saturdays. I was always too shy to talk to the girls, but I sure liked looking. What a geek. Like the song said, we dug Disneyland... about 3 to 6x per summer.
I was already off of 8-track players though, unlike the song. I always had money 'cause I worked, and I bought the first Ampex cassette car player and installed it in my Chevy Vega under the seat. It was HUGE. I recorded my own music or listened to the radio. Probably to stuff you didn't like, like Jethro Tull, Yes, and Zeppelin. Oh... and Brasil 66, opera, Beethoven, and Dave Brubeck. Some of that you'd have liked.
I enjoy your blogged memoirs more than anything else you put to paper... 'er internet.
Thanks, SBB-6!
DeleteIt was a great place to be and a great time to be there. Nappy just got back from a trip there and based on what he said, there is NO WAY I would wanna live there now. (In fact, even by 1992, it had changed too much for me.)
I never actually owned an 8-track but a good friend of mine in high school had one. We used to cruise Westwood Village on Friday / Saturday nights, with him blasting his ELP or Linda Ronstadt. I'll take Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 and Brubeck over them any day! :-)
Glad you like 'TSOML' posts. They will probably be ongoing for a long time, I suppose.
~ D-FensDogG
Sounds like a beach party movie come to life. :) What an Idyllic time that must have been for you. The song really sets the mood.
ReplyDeleteDEBBIE ~
DeleteYep, it was a carefree time of joy, body-surfing, lemonade, and hot-dog-on-a-stick. A time of fun and innocence that EVERY boy ought to get a chance to experience. If only they all could.
~ D-FensDogG
You know what's funny? I live close to the beach now, but I never go. It's always what someone asks me when I tell them where I live. It always just seems like too much work (especially when you don't actually like laying out in the sun). It meas carting an umbrella, chair, towel, book, drinks... well, you get the idea. I s'pose I might be more inspired if it were full of good looking (single, heterosexual) men my age, but it ain't! I bought all the stuffs for the beach and spent several months there when I first moved to FL. Never did meet even one man that fell into the above category. Ah well...
ReplyDeleteAs for the song... the line that really brought back the memories for me was the bit about yakkin' on the CB radio in your van. My parents had a CB radio (and a van), and whenever we'd go on trips a great part of our "entertainment" was listening to the chatter on the CB. My brother and I constantly begged to use it so that we could "break for a 10-36," and my parents occasionally caved, but no one wants to tell rugrats the time all the time. hahahaha. I think maybe the truckers were relieved when the 70s passed and the fascination with trucking in the movies went with it. And most Regular Folk sold their CBs...
Enjoyed this one:)
GIRL WONDER ~
DeleteI really didn't do a whole lot of "laying out" on the beach either, back in my day. I spent most of the time in the water, body-surfing. Other than that, I'd stroll the boardwalk a little bit, see what was happening, get a hot-dog-on-a-stick and a lemonade.
But time spent on my beach towel? Minimal. Maybe a 15-minute rest before getting back to the surfing.
Ya know, if I lived close to a beach now, I probably wouldn't go often either. I'm not into "crowds" much anymore. And it WOULD seem like trouble, like a hassle to me now, whereas when I was young it was what I REALLY WANTED to do.
10-36 - I can't believe you still remembered that code!
And, yeah, you're right, the truckers were probably glad when the CB radio was finally left solely to the "professionals" again. Ha!
~ D-FensDogG