By Bill King
Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a distant galaxy…a Ford Galaxy, that is, I listened to music on an eight-track tape player. Back then, we mounted them under the dashboard. That makes me old enough to have worn bell bottoms the first time they were in fashion and to have had bangs hanging down in my eyes. Anyone under the age of 50 has probably never owned an eight-track player. We thought the eight-track was the greatest invention since Silly Putty or the Slinky.
Before the arrival of the eight-track, we listened to music on radios, record players, and cassette tape players. Now we have CDs and digital music. Each and every one of those music players had their drawbacks. Back when it was on the radio, we had to listen to whatever the stations played. The only way to change songs was to change stations, but in small-town USA, we didn’t pick up many stations. Many of the ones I could tune in didn’t play the kind of music I wanted to turn on. My dad called my music “long-hair music.” He wasn’t referring to classical music but to The Beatles, Beach Boys, or The Rolling Stones! Then, a wonderful thing happened. Dad bought us a record player. I could choose the records and the recording artist I wanted to hear. Dad could listen to Jim Reeves, and I could listen to Creedence Clearwater, but not at the same time. It was a portable set with a turntable, speaker, and everything in a handy fold-up case with a carrying handle. The problem with a record player was that the records could get scratched. When they did, the needle would hit the scratch and jump back, causing it to play the same section over and over. That may have been how the so called “Seven-Eleven Songs” were created!
Many of the first songs I learned to play on guitar came from listening to a particular song on a record over and over until I figured out the vocals and guitar chords. That’s why we sang such things as “I’ll never leave your pizza burning” instead of “I’ll never be your beast of burden” or “There’s a bathroom on the right” instead of “There’s a bad moon on the rise.” After I had played back the same measure of music dozens of times, Mom often hollered back to me in my room to tell me that my record was hung up again.
Another problem with a record player was that we couldn’t listen to it in the car. Even if our car had an electrical outlet, the bumps in the road would have caused the needle to bounce around too much. But, when the eight-track player came along, we didn’t have to worry about the needle bouncing around because it had no needle. These days, I often listen to digital music on my cell phone, but I have also started a new collection of old vinyl. They come with interesting jackets too!
Long before we had any of those devices, people had to make their own music. That is still my favorite. I thank God for the gift of music and for the ability some have to sing and play musical instruments. Maybe we could slow down enough to sit down on a back porch and “pick and grin” a little, or maybe gather around a piano and harmonize along. My taste in music has changed through the years, and I listen to many genres now, but especially Christian music. Music, after all, is a gift from God!
