On this Friday afternoon, À la recherche du temps perdu
One of my daughters posted this family photo on Facebook. It was taken back in those gone-but-not-forgotten days when my hair was a lot darker and the kids were a lot younger. ( I still have that T-shirt, but like its owner, it’s a little more worn and ragged).
My daughter also added a telling caption:
“Probably dancing to R.E.M. or Bonnie Raitt, neither of whom were ever removed from the CD player.”
To which I must of course plead guilty.
Some of my favorite memories growing up were of my parents’ music, which often filled the house. Those songs and artists — everyone from Roger Miller to Erroll Garner to Peggy Lee — always bring a smile to my face when I hear them so many years later.
For me, they are the aural version of Marcel Proust’s famous little madeleine cake, the taste of which brought memories of his childhood flooding back.
In “À la Recherche du Temps Perdu,” or “Remembrance of Things Past,” M. Proust recalled the taste of that cake:
“In that moment all the flowers in our garden and in M. Swann’s park, and the waterlilies on the Vivonne and the good folk of the village and their little dwellings and the parish church and the whole of Combray and its surroundings, taking shape and solidity, sprang into being, town and gardens alike….”
So years from now, if the stray sounds of Bonnie Raitt or R.E.M. should trigger similar warm memories in the heads of two particular young women, I’ll consider it evidence of a job well and happily done.
Here’s Miss Bonnie playing with the great and sadly late John Lee Hooker:
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224 comments Add your comment
Jimmy Carter
November 13th, 2009
3:47 pm
FIRST!!!
Bosch
November 13th, 2009
3:57 pm
SECOND!!
getalife
November 13th, 2009
3:58 pm
For the officers that took out hasan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3PUAEU7rQw
Mrs. Godzilla
November 13th, 2009
3:59 pm
My pop….male menopause used Mustang fastback…..8 track….teaching
me to drive…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN7Xs9WVNBU
The old guy can still bugaloo
Jimmy Carter
November 13th, 2009
3:59 pm
Bosch
November 13th, 2009
3:57 pm
Haha! We’re on our game today, Bosch! Have a great weekend.
Joan
November 13th, 2009
4:02 pm
Bookman, it is nice to remember when times were more sane, fun, and you didn’t have to worry about cholesterol, cancer from cell phones, perverts picking up kids and the like. What was really so wrong with the values we had then? Why did we trade them out for political correctness?
Bosch
November 13th, 2009
4:02 pm
You too Jimmy Carter – pleasant weekend!
JohnF
November 13th, 2009
4:03 pm
That kitchen looks like the one I just renovated – finally.
Mrs. Godzilla
November 13th, 2009
4:03 pm
Nice legs, Jay.
Jay
November 13th, 2009
4:03 pm
Joan … I never made that trade, personally.
Jimmy Carter
November 13th, 2009
4:07 pm
Jay, it could just be the angle and I could be wrong, but I swear it seems as though you’re leaning juuuuuust a little to the right in that pic. Just sayin’…..
@@
November 13th, 2009
4:08 pm
Dang, jay! You were kinda cute back then. You’re daughter must have gone from cute to beautiful.
Bosch
November 13th, 2009
4:11 pm
Pleasant weekend to all! Au revoir!
Pogo
November 13th, 2009
4:14 pm
LONG LIVE SABI!
Jay
November 13th, 2009
4:15 pm
She did, @@, she surely did.
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
4:20 pm
AW..the little one was, and I’m sure still is, precious. This is truly sweet and cute…thanks for sharing…
Nothing Is Free
November 13th, 2009
4:22 pm
jay
Nice thoughts about the music your parents liked.
Dad had three artists that never was far from the record player:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IumnmhnPJKQ
I was honored to hear him sing this in Centennial Olympic Park, during the games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxB1t2EEK0M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID1_15EK-Ck
Nothing Is Free
November 13th, 2009
4:23 pm
Jay
you moderated Ray Charles?
Nothing Is Free
November 13th, 2009
4:24 pm
OK Fixed. The server is wacky.
Jay
November 13th, 2009
4:27 pm
No NIF — the software kicks out anything with more than two links as spam.
Besides, NOBODY could moderate Ray Charles. I once met a guy who was Ray’s roommate at the school for the blind that they attended. He said nobody messed with Ray even then, that Ray was BAADD.
Jimmy Carter
November 13th, 2009
4:30 pm
Jay
November 13th, 2009
4:27 pm
So how would Ray stack up against Chuck Norris? Anyone?
Nothing Is Free
November 13th, 2009
4:30 pm
Now my kids got really tired of these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STKkWj2WpWM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7M1zcyf12A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WIYnHYHd7E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ8iJVm-1lc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlIV2Tl4qM4
Jay
November 13th, 2009
4:32 pm
In the dark, my money’s on Ray.
Nothing Is Free
November 13th, 2009
4:35 pm
Jay
Nothing like him. And what a job Jammie Fox did on the movie. If you don’t own the DVD, go get it. There is an “extra” that is Ray and Jamie together and I was amazed at Jamie Fox’s musical talent.
DoggoneGA
November 13th, 2009
4:36 pm
I think NIF must have seduced the spam filter!
Jimmy Carter
November 13th, 2009
4:37 pm
As I wind down on this beautiful day and prepare for the weekend, I leave you all with the following:
Gunga galunga… gunga, gunga-lagunga. That means when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So you got that goin’ for you, which is nice.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
November 13th, 2009
4:43 pm
Well, these people were well after my time. I growed up listening to Ferlin Husky and Hank Williams (the real one, not the bearded hippie) and little Jimmy Dickens and the Carter sisters with mother Maybelle. Music just went to you-know-where after that.
I can tell Bookman started out rich. He had a real kitchen and cabinets and everything. We had a wood stove in the kitchen and a couple coal stoves for the rest of the place.
Have a good Friday night everybody and give some thought to me while you’re guzzling the beer I hauled for you.
Jay
November 13th, 2009
4:51 pm
BS&T was great, NIF.
Midori
November 13th, 2009
4:55 pm
Nice legs, Jay.
Mrs. G –
I was thinking the same thing
Kamchak
November 13th, 2009
5:02 pm
I growed up listening to Ferlin Husky and Hank Williams (the real one, not the bearded hippie)…
R C
(R–apoi) This one’s for you.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
November 13th, 2009
5:09 pm
I thank you, Kamchak.
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
5:10 pm
Hot Deep South summer night, Mama with all nine of her “little ones” there and showing us her moves…one of my earliest memories…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpzV_0l5ILI&feature=fvw
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 13th, 2009
5:12 pm
Your daughter’s mother must be a stunning beauty considering what had to be overcome on the father’s side.
just kidding…..cute little girl.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xt3at_rem-bitter-sweet-me_music
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
5:19 pm
Hot Deep South summer night and old lady in her 80s… three generations of “little ones” now and her still moving…showing us how.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4A50EHwCjY..
Normal
November 13th, 2009
5:21 pm
Can’t stay, company (read Grandson) is here…
my contribution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ny5ajCn0xw
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
5:28 pm
DDR–when you check in, thinking of you…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9pFpWIJgQs&feature=PlayList&p=1CB508B4D3B144C7&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=28
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
5:30 pm
DDR–when you check in, thinking of you and your good taste in music…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9pFpWIJgQs&feature=PlayList&p=1CB508B4D3B144C7&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=28
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
5:30 pm
OOPS…but it IS worth listening to twice!!
SOUTHERN ATL
November 13th, 2009
5:32 pm
Jay, that one was nice but this reminds me of my father back in the day…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_JmcGa8abA
Jay
November 13th, 2009
5:35 pm
Josef, Joan Armatrading is what Tracy Chapman hopes to be when she grows up.
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 13th, 2009
5:39 pm
We had a wood stove in the kitchen and a couple coal stoves for the rest of the place
Nobody up here in the hills ever had a coal stove that I know of. I do have fond memories of the old wood stove though. Sat in the corner of the kitchen with the stove wood box right beside it. Always had the smell of that rich pine kindlin’. For all his life, my Grandpa wouldn’t eat a biscuit that was cooked in the electric stove. Had to be cooked on the wood stove for him.
Jay,
Mighty pretty little girl there, must take after her mom.
Your house growing up sounded sort of like ours. We had one of those old, small tube radios that you had to turn on and let warm up. Seemed like it took forever for it to get going. My earliest memories are getting up first thing in the morning and racing to the radio to turn it on and get it going. Marty Robbins’ song El Paso had just come out and I couldn’t wait to hear it everyday. It’s funny even then at age 3 or 4, I had a complete picture in my head of the story in that song and I still see that exact same picture today. That song has always been basically a movie playing in my head when it’s on. And you have to tip your hat to Grady Martin’s lead guitar work in it too. Forty seperate lead runs in that song.
Josef, getalife, and anybody else with roots in that part of the world:
Have y’all ever read Rising Tide:The Great Mississippi Flood Of 1927 And How It Changed America by John M Barry? If so, wondered what somebody from down that way thought of it.
Jay
November 13th, 2009
5:42 pm
That’s a great book, Hillbilly. Fascinating stuff.
Kamchak
November 13th, 2009
5:43 pm
My contribution to the female folk genre.
@@
November 13th, 2009
5:45 pm
I’ll leave this one for your daughter, jay. Then?
I’m out to do some dancin’ of my own with the cajun….husband in “toe”.
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 13th, 2009
5:45 pm
Jay,
Yes, it’s been a couple of years since I read that book but I really liked it and learned a lot. It’s about a lot more than just the flood. Gives you a good prospective on what people will do to protect their supply of cheap labor.
SOUTHERN ATL
November 13th, 2009
5:50 pm
Normal@5:21….nice pick…the “Real King” !!!!
RW-(the original)
November 13th, 2009
5:52 pm
Skip ahead to 1:00 and then 2:00 if you can’t stomach the whole clip. The images of her in the black miniskirt and the American-flag bikini started floating around the ‘Net mere days after she joined the ticket last year and were debunked almost immediately, which means either (a) MSNBC knowingly chose to air doctored images to smear her or (b) “The Place for Politics” can’t recognize a notorious 12-month-old photoshop of last year’s VP nominee when it sees one.
Do you suppose this’ll touch off the same firestorm as showing real protesters labeled as protesting on the wrong day?
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
6:03 pm
JAY–Nobody like Armatrading, got all of her music all the way back to the very first one…
HILLBILLY–
Fascinating book…my home stomping grounds is the first ridge out of the Delta and grew up hearing stories of the refugees. Mom’s family “took in” several families and still in my own generation certain families were always identified as “those are the Joneses who cam in here during the flood of ‘27…a lot of my family on Dad’s side, “lost everything in the flood of ‘27…” Growing up we had flood drills right along with tornado drills and fire drills…I went back home and taught for a year and earthquake drills (New Madrid line) had been added…should there come a quake the levees won’t hold and a repeat would take place…
SOUTHERN ATL
November 13th, 2009
6:09 pm
…..gotta run but could not pass this “Legend” up…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k2lSnAcapM
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 13th, 2009
6:20 pm
Josef
I don’t have as much knowledge as those of you are from there but I found it fascinating. After Katrina, I was talking with somebody from here about the flooding. From reports we got there were stories in New Orleans that some people thought the government blew out the levees. The person I was talking to said, “That’s crazy”. I said, “Well, yeah it sounds crazy, and I don’t believe that’s what happened but since The Levee Board did exactly that in 1927 and flooded St. Bernard Parish, I can see how people there might get that idea.” And of course from what I read the people of St. Bernard never got the reparations they were promised.
Taxpayer
November 13th, 2009
6:21 pm
I’m sure that photo brought back good memories for you, Jay. As for those old songs that our family listened to way back then, here’s one that comes to mind.
Angry Black Man
November 13th, 2009
6:23 pm
My childhood memories don’t go back as far as some of y’all. Especially since I was born in the early 70’s. I grew up hanging with my older brothers as much as I could. They have me by 12 years or so. I loved to get into their record collection, and I usually decided on what I wanted to listen to based on the album art. This one by far was one of my favorites, and is still one of my favorite songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SIR0LgdIaY
Nothing in the world can every replace live instruments.
Jay
November 13th, 2009
6:24 pm
Thanks, @@, great song. Played it all the way through. Great “Saturday afternoon” music.
Midori
November 13th, 2009
6:27 pm
Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson is sentenced to 13 years for corruption.
good riddance to bad garbage!!
Jay
November 13th, 2009
6:29 pm
Yeah, Midori, and some disturbing state news over at the Gold Dome Live blog that I’m not going to post here tonight.
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
6:35 pm
Hillbilly–
I was lucky enough to work with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History on the 50th anniversary of the flood project…some really intriguing oral history and photos…some sad, some funny, some tragic and some heroic…one lady I interviewed told of leaving Greenville in bumper to bumper traffic, if you had a flat, you just kept going, they were behind a truck evacuating from a bawdy house, They had piled the bed with all matter of things, one of which was the piano…all the way out one of the “ladies” played! The woman, who was a child at the time, said her mom and dad were singing right along with her!
Many of their memories came back to haunt us during Katrina. Dad’s family is from down there and so is a lot of Unmentionable’s. The stories they tell of Katrina are much like those from ‘27. There’s still a lot of anger in St. Bernard…
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
6:38 pm
midori
“good riddance to bad garbage!!”
I second that emotion….
Normal
November 13th, 2009
6:41 pm
One more by B.B….Jay, you had skinny legs…good air guitar, though…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtm66Z3lebc
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 13th, 2009
6:42 pm
There’s still a lot of anger in St. Bernard…
From what I know of it, it’s perfectly justified. Some things aren’t easily forgotten, especially as long as there are still people living who were there, or were told of it by people who were.
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 13th, 2009
6:42 pm
Sorry, screwed up the italics thing again.
Normal
November 13th, 2009
6:46 pm
Anybody remember the white Jimi Hindrix?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0d1HilfLxA
Taxpayer
November 13th, 2009
6:47 pm
I saw that Capitol News too, Jay. Best not to dwell on that one. Here’s another voice that I heard a lot while growing up.
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
6:47 pm
What our kids put on for their kids to watch me and Unmentionable (after a few drinks!) relive our halcyon days of youth long faded….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybiqDxZ_W2o&feature=related
stands for decibels
November 13th, 2009
7:02 pm
1) Awwww.
2) I saw “little kid dancing music” and immediately thought of this, a tune our kid forced us to play repeatedly until tuckered out. It’s “Hi, We’re the Replacements”, a somewhat backhanded tribute to the 80s punk band by the still wonderful They Might Be Giants. Our kid simply called it “The Party Song.”
Jay
November 13th, 2009
7:03 pm
Josef, the pickup line that masqueraded as a song.
Song titles as pickup lines: There’s a theme.
j$
November 13th, 2009
7:03 pm
ABM,
This is one I remember from the day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH46SmVv8SU
As a new father myself, I will not let this hold true for my daughter.
kayaker 71
November 13th, 2009
7:04 pm
John Lee Hooker brings to mind a trip down hwy 61 from Jackson, MS to Venice, LA. Took about 6 days for us two white boys to do it and I remember some juke joints that we certainly should not have been in. But that was the early 60s when we had little to worry about. Some of the best blues music ever …. and that’s where Hooker started along with Brownie McGee and Blind Sonny Terry (one of the best harp men in the business). God, I miss those times.
stands for decibels
November 13th, 2009
7:04 pm
the white Jimi Hindrix?
Heh. Cow-orker said he saw Robin playing live, locally, quite recently.
Just checked his wiki bio; of course I knew about his days with Procol Harum, but I had no idea he’d worked with Bryan Ferry. Huh.
RW-(the original)
November 13th, 2009
7:09 pm
Song titles as pickup lines, eh?
Jay
November 13th, 2009
7:10 pm
Now RW, one wouldn’t want to overpromise, would one?
Good one!
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 13th, 2009
7:11 pm
Sort of the opposite of a pickup line.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65VzVXCP248
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
7:16 pm
Pick up lines! I was in a bar in Nawlins when the song first came out. Some fellow pulled it on me and, smart a** that I was, I answered him back in French with a few comments on just what did he have to offer…he popped back in fluent, native French with a few suggestions…turned out he was from France and, well, come on, Joe, wanna give it a go…! Ah… À la recherche du temps perdu
kayaker 71
November 13th, 2009
7:20 pm
Off subject….
Cold Cash Jefferson got 13 years in the slammer. Justice moves slow but seems to work.
TnGelding
November 13th, 2009
7:20 pm
Ahh, the good ole days! Great pic, Jay. Have a great weekend everybody!
Sing it fellas!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpM3pQDezrU
…and you too, Elvis. Sooner than we would like to think.
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
7:22 pm
Okay, pick up lines, couldn’t resist…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UX2afsTqFI
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 13th, 2009
7:27 pm
TN Gelding
Good choice. I’ve always preferred that slower, more soulful version of Dixie, to the more common upbeat version. I really was born “early Lord one frosty morning” just like it says. It’s something you just can’t explain.
I like the way Mickey Newberry (the originator of the trilogy) combined the three songs to tell the story from the three sides.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 13th, 2009
7:32 pm
What’s your name? Who’s your daddy? Is he rich like me?
http://noolmusic.com/dailymotion_videos/zombies_time_of_the_season_life.php
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 13th, 2009
7:35 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0SSeACInqw
Midori
November 13th, 2009
7:35 pm
I must post this tribute to the late MJ.
One of my favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgJ4Q70FBWU&feature=fvhl
Jay
November 13th, 2009
7:38 pm
Skynyrd’s sense of humor was underappreciated.
Hell, even their name was funny.
stands for decibels
November 13th, 2009
7:38 pm
The Zombies are rather under appreciated. Here’s my favorite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmkuPmYicTc
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 13th, 2009
7:38 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_AE6pXisfU
Y’all are rank amateurs.
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
7:39 pm
For my own kids…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP1NY8LOSUw
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 13th, 2009
7:41 pm
Although such approach has gotten me slapped a few times….
Midori
November 13th, 2009
7:42 pm
Gelding,
this is my favorite Elvis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpzV_0l5ILI
Jazzy!!!
RW-(the original)
November 13th, 2009
7:42 pm
I saw Skynard at the Imperial Theater in Augusta for a quarter back before anybody ever heard of them. They blew everybody away and we wondered how they made anything playing for 25 cents, but I guess it was to generate buzz and it sure worked.
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
7:43 pm
OOPS–wrong version of song for my own kids’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHzMCFgTid0
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 13th, 2009
7:45 pm
I wasn’t quite old enough to know if this worked-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGWSquDBW34&feature=related
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 13th, 2009
7:48 pm
Now I know this worked, haha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PECk9A-07Pw
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 13th, 2009
7:53 pm
The old standby-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4SxQ5BSJPc
j$
November 13th, 2009
8:05 pm
Andy, this was the first AC/DC I heard and it still rocks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvP0uwl3Q6A
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 13th, 2009
8:10 pm
j$- Back atcha-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0ZpWNZFDLE
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 13th, 2009
8:12 pm
I Report
Anything to do with the Beatles worked.
Jay
November 13th, 2009
8:12 pm
The definitive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3nqOmF2j50
j$
November 13th, 2009
8:13 pm
RW, this newer Aerosmith sums it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4AxQXmasg4
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
8:15 pm
whiner–segar–one of the most underrated artists of our age…À la recherche du temps perdu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiuRdjESiC4&feature=related
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 13th, 2009
8:19 pm
Jay- That reminds me, I asked a girl one time if she slept on her stomach, she said no, I said would you mind if I did?
Jay
November 13th, 2009
8:21 pm
And…?
josef nix
November 13th, 2009
8:22 pm
JAY–the definitive…gets my vote…
DoggoneGA
November 13th, 2009
8:23 pm
“Yeah, Midori, and some disturbing state news over at the Gold Dome Live blog that I’m not going to post here tonight.”
Might as well, Jay…it’s been all over WABE all evening, or at least, all over the local breaks during the evening news report.