Wednesday, February 20, 2013

I Opened My Mouth...

Saw this image the other day on a friend's Facebook page, smiled in rueful acknowledgement, and moved on.


That happens regularly, enough so to be old news.  I've long since become used to hearing her words (flashbacks from my childhood) coming out of my mouth of their own volition as I parent my own children.

What I don't do often, however, is channel my father, and that happened this morning as I was driving to the gym after dropping The Girl off at school.  Flipping around the radio stations that are preset in my car, I paused on Thing One's preferred station just long enough to register screeching electropop music before saying (out loud, to myself) "What the hell kind of noise is that???" and flipping the channel.  And then I immediately smacked myself on the forehead, because that is PRECISELY the reaction my father had while I was growing up--and still has, for the record--to any song involving an electric guitar, on any radio channel.  I'm turning into a crotchety old curmudgeon like my father.  (Hi, Dad!)  

Himself is a little older than me, but his parents are a few years younger than mine.  He was raised on the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and classic rock; I, on Helen Reddy, the Carpenters, Barry Manilow, John Denver, and Kenny Rogers.  I lived in an elevator (for all musical intents and purposes) for the first 18 years of my life...to this day, I am probably the only person in the continental US under the age of 40 who knows all the words--still--to every song these people ever recorded.  My father and I even danced together at my wedding to a Kenny Rogers song, as I recall, because I love him dearly even if his musical preferences haven't changed much since sometime in the 1960s!

Himself's car has satellite radio, but not mine.  Through his daily 2+-hour (miserable commute) exposure to the bazillion channels available there, he has become a fan of alt-rock, which is now our family's collective favorite musical genre (Mumford & Sons, the Killers, Arcade Fire, Cage the Elephant, 30 Seconds to Mars, etc.)  Since I lived in a British colony during the late '80s, my formative musical years, when driving his car I also often listen to the New Wave channel, the British 1980s equivalent of alt-rock.  Thing One actually requests this channel--he likes it too.  

Which is a good thing, if my history with my dad is any indicator, since he will probably be listening to it until he turns 18!   



     

3 comments:

  1. We were raised on the same music!! I know all their lyrics, too!

    Delta Dawn is my go-to karaoke song. That should probably shame me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Could it be a faded rose from years gone by?

    Yep. Right there with you. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haha, I totally hear myself use all the lines my parents used. Growing up I listened to the music of my older siblings. Now when I listen to the soft rock station I always think of them.

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