Our local newspaper, The Standard Times, has a writer named Lauren Daley who authors columns on the arts, books, and music, and in a recent paper she listed the top 10 albums she listened to as a teenager. She asked her readers to let her know their own, so I sent her a note…
Dear Lauren,
I loved today’s column of albums from your youth. I, too have a list that brings me back to those years in a flash, those albums that I replaced in CD form once they sounded like frying bacon or warped in the sun in a badly placed box in a dorm room. I was a loner in those days, the bullied Acushnet junior high school kid who became a new, unknown entity at Fairhaven high. I tried to fly under the radar, spending lunchtimes and study halls in Mr. Rapoza’s art room in the clock tower. He let us listen to our albums there, and I even lost a few to someone with sticky fingers who obviously needed to listen to them more than me. Music was my life and spilled over to my art. An etching I did of Elton John from the liner notes of Madman Across The Water helped get me into art school.
I always dreamed of being the lanky hippy chick in the denim hip huggers or the sylphlike Go-Go girl in the boots that my favorite artists wrote about, but alas, she was my polar opposite. Ah, but the dreams were good.
- Madman Across the Water, Elton John
I’m a sucker for stories and edgy love songs, and Sir Elton does both so well here. I wanted to be the Tiny Dancer, the Blue Jean Lady, the seamstress for the band. I was never that girl, but you’ll see her reappear in my other picks. I was closer to Levon’s son Jesus, who wants to go to Venus to escape his life.
- Stand Up, Jethro Tull
She’s back, that cool chick for whom Ian Anderson wrote Reasons for Waiting. That song still makes me swoon.
- Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
More stories, complex, scary, adrenaline rushing stories that make me want to jump on and go for that ride wherever it takes me. It gave me the courage to do some things I probably never would have done.
- The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Traffic
Back when anything over 3 minutes didn’t get radio airplay it was rare to hear the title track on anything other than college stations or as the theme music for Sawyer’s Campus Shop ads back in the day. But the opening riff brings me right back to smoky parties and really bad wine and trying to act too hip for the room. I wasn’t.
- Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Joe Cocker
An older cousin introduced me to the likes of Delta Lady and Cry Me a River and I will always be grateful. And it increased my street cred exponentially.
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- Rubber Soul, The Beatles
Norwegian Wood, another story, was a peek into a world I could only imagine. I pictured this chic girl with long, straight blond tresses and almost white lipstick with a puffed sleeve mini-dress and white go-go boots sitting on the rug drinking wine with Paul McCartney. And If I Needed Someone was another one of those love songs I wanted someone to write for me someday.
- Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Neil Young with Crazy Horse
Same cousin, more street cred. Who doesn’t love Cinnamon Girl? There she is again, that girl I’ll never be; the chick that’s with the band. And her sister, Cowgirl in the Sand.
- Eat a Peach, Allman Brothers
Not a bad song on the album and I could tick off the box for stories and love songs. And so much fun to sing along to, especially Ain’t Wastin’ Time and One Way Out. But Melissa is still queen. Unfortunately she was stolen from the art room.
- The Rod Stewart Album, Rod Stewart (of course)
Handbags and Glad Rags may still be one of my favorite songs of all time, written by Manfred Mann’s Mike D’Abo (who was King Herod in the original cast and performs in the Jesus Christ Superstar album). He plays piano on the track as well. Our cool chick has started to get long in the tooth and needs to grow up and toss the makeup and go go boots.
- Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell
Joni wrote a whole album of stories with adult themes and real world issues; Free Man In Paris, Trouble Child, Raised on Robbery and ending with Twisted. I hope the royalties paid for her therapy.
I hope you enjoyed my list. It took 45 years and therapy of my own to be OK with who I am, and to be able to listen to these favorites without the cringe-worthy memories they’d evoke. And guess what? I married a musician and so now I AM the girl with the band.
What are YOUR favorites from your misspent youth?
It would be difficult to think of a better top ten
Hi Deb,
I enjoyed your list. I didn’t take the time to write up my own, but off the top of my head, I would have to add some Van Morrison. It would be too hard to pick one of his albums, but St. Dominick’s Preview, Moondace, and Tupelo Honey were in constant rotation in my house during my teen years. It’s hard to top “Jackie Wilson Said,” “Caravan,” “oh Redwood Tree,” “Tupelo Honey,” Crazy Love,” and I could go on and on. Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book is another that comes to mind. I was crazy about Stevie! Donovan’s “A Gift from a Flowr to a Garden” too. The Rolling Stones “Sticky Fingers” blasted from the stereo almost daily too. “Court and Spark” would make my list for sure. Of course, The Beatles were my faves, and all of their albums played throughout my high school years. I loved Carol King’s “Tapestry” too. Whenever I hear “It’s Too Late,” I think of myself lying on a blanket baking in the sun at Nahant beach. Happy memories! I loved “Who’s That Lady?” By the Isley Brothers, and I can’t leave out “What’s Going On ” by Marvin Gaye, and I had a Smokey Robinson and the Miracles greatest hits album that I wore out. I know I am forgetting some things. I loved Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde.” Just a few picks, but I know I am leaving some things out. Thanks for prompting me to reminisce!
And the list goes on and on… If it were just singles I wouldn’t have even known where to start! I knew Van would be on your top ten, if not in #1 place!
D. xx