You may be looking at the number of songs and thinking someone must have died. No, this is an apology of sorts. Yesterday I did not post though I had meant to. I had written and edited the musing of the day and just needed to press Publish. I did not do so, got preoccupied. Today’s musing is an edited yesterday’s but the music is new. 4 songs are posted as my apology for missing yesterday and four posted for today. They are all favorite singers and groups. I have plenty more favorites, I know I know, the favorites controversy, but I ran out of space so 8 songs were enough for today. If I couldn’t find the exact song, I went to the next best.

These songs evoke my memories. They bring back the strongest feelings. They are among my favorites.

Today all of the songs are from 1965, the year I graduated from high school. I remember all of the words to each song. Music is like that.

I know that my music each day generally matches the theme of my musings for the day, but today you’ll notice a change. I started with window washing and then totally went off theme. The reason was I found the Judy-Pete song, listened to it and decided then to post folk songs I love. I even posted four of them and gave you the Formby as a bonus or maybe because he is playing the ukulele. I could post folk day after day and never repeat a favorite.

Enjoy my choices for today!

For my second year in the Peace Corps, my parents gifted me with a cassette player, you know, like the ones we all had, rectangular with the cassette opening on the front bottom. I got to choose my music. The songs I’ve posted today are from four albums I chose. I don’t remember any other albums because I played these just about every night. Later, my sister sent me a cassette of songs she had recorded. Most of them were released when I was in Ghana so the music was new. I remember Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head was one of those. Patrick, another volunteer, got a cassette from his mother, the soundtrack of Easy Rider. This perplexed him as he didn’t have a cassette player, and he couldn’t imagine his mother had picked the album. He gave it to me.

The gift of music was the best gift I ever received.

Roberta Flack passed away yesterday. There are so many of her songs I could post, but these four came right to mind.

Not again? Yes, again! I have an early concert so I don’t have enough time to finish Coffee today.

This is our first January concert and the first time playing our new book, the name game, to an audience. We practiced it once, and I played it again during my lesson. Some songs are old, ones we’ve played before, which makes the book a bit easier to play. My only complaint about the book is I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen isn’t one of the songs. It would have been a hit!

Joan Baez is 84 today so she is all of Coffee today. Enjoy! Thanks, Birgit, for reminding me.

Today I am on hiatus, a really brief hiatus. Because I posted on Wednesday, my usual day off, I am calling today Wednesday, just for this week. I’ll be back tomorrow!

The old years are tied to the new years. They carry forward pictures, memories and, most of all, music. The albums from which these songs came were with me in Ghana. They are bright in my memory drawers. They are deserted island music, heart music. They were cassettes which didn’t handle humidity well. I’d have to bang them against a table or rewind by hand with my Bic pen, but they lasted. I listened just about every night. I never tire of these albums, of these songs.

I have a morning concert then another in the afternoon. I will try to write in between or at least post some music.

Talk to you then!