Funny How That Happens
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
My music tastes are eclectic. Yes I do like music from my youth but new and older songs also. For finding these songs based on personal preference not age, I credit my $5 a month Pandora subscription.
Besides listening I like opening the AP: “Hey Siri.. Open Pandora”.
(Should add that my use of Pandora and not Spotify which TMK does not search has been called ancient, to which I say – so is Wisdom.)
I’ve noticed that, too. We more experienced citizens have taken over the Muzak. Apologies if that’s still a copyright thing. 😁
I bet the Rolling Stones tunes as Muzak are playing in nursing homes. A bright and cheery version of Painted Black!
When Yglesias was ‘a kid’ (1992 + / – 10 years), the middle aged were people born in 1941 + / – 20 years. For the oldest among them, the music of their late adolescent / young adult years would have been Big Band. For the youngest, Christopher Cross, Steve Winwood, and Bob Marley. He doesn’t know what ‘lame’ means.
My wife and I were asked to go a concert at Interlochen Art’s Academy last weekend.
We accepted the invite.
The band, Brit Floyd, a tribute band of Pink Floyd.
At one point the house lights come up and my wife leans over and said;
Where did all these old folks come from?
Tongue and cheek of course, but it is something to ponder lightly….twilight years listening to “Wish You Were Here.”
We attended a concert of the surviving half of Steely Dan at Wolf Trap a few years back. We noticed there was a critical mass of young people present. Then we figured out they were chaperoning their grandparents. The young person nearest us is a grand-niece about forty miles down the road. We’ll need her services if we’re to attend any concerts in the future. (I have no clue how we managed to find our car, but we did).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs
==
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG9iMJIT5sQ
Phillip,
Hoping that in their younger years ”these old folks” heeded the sage’s warning:
“.. no one told them when to run.. they missed the starting gun..”
Yglesias is non-ironically right that background music has shifted from easy-listening to harder stuff. The Beatles always had an exemption though; they could go as hard or as spacy as they wanted and it was acceptable.
David WS
Here’s a version from Dr Hook;
[Verse 3]
Now I ain’t makin’ no excuses for the many things I uses
Just to sweeten my relationships and brighten up my day
But when my earthly race is over and I’m ready for the clover
And they ask me how my life has been, I guess I’ll have to say
[Chorus 2]
I was stoned and I missed it
I was stoned and I missed it
I was stoned, and it rolled right by
I was stoned and I missed it
I was stoned and I missed it
I was stoned, oh me oh my
Run the good race…a crown for the victor awaits.
Peace.
So, a few weeks past, I had considered that most of the music that I know and enjoy came from between 1976 and 1994. I decided to try watching YouTube videos of the current Billboard Top 40.
Well, that didn’t work so well. There were a few country cross-overs that were decent. A few others by Lewis Capaldi or …who was it(?) that sounded pretty decent. Yet for the most part, …I got bored. It was pretty blah fare.
John F – Yeah, that’s big. Older people aren’t supposed to complain that new music is too bland. Maybe not sophisticated enough, but too tame? That’s weird. Part of the problem is that our parents were right: the stuff we listened to was just cussing and noise. Or at least enough of it was that new music doesn’t sound reckless. How’s a kid supposed to rebel to a soundtrack of Taylor Swift?
(Obviously, I’m not endorsing every kind of rebellion, but music is one of the areas where kids naturally find their own identities, and what do they have now to distinguish themselves?)
I have read commentaries from people like Rick Beato saying that music synthesizing has become so sophisticated that one person can produce an album that sounds like anything from a solo singer to a chorus and orchestra. Many artists are in fact solo acts with a lot of digital help. Garage bands, and therefore most college town bar bands, are becoming rare. This is all hearsay, but the sources are in the music industry in one way or another.
[…] Closing of America’s Largest Planned Parenthood Is Highly Symbolic – Trad, Fam, & PropFunny How That Happens – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at The American […]