Music. Memory. Magic.

We were sitting around the pool yesterday listening to great tunes from the 60’s, 70’s and one or two from the 80’s and 90’s. What I learned was that we had great, great music growing up– music that has stood the test of time.

We had several young people in the pool with us, who were enjoying the tunes as much as us older folk were. And not just the typical fare of Beatles, Rolling Stones and others you might expect, but groups that many have never heard of.

I decided to make a run of groups who were at Woodstock #1 and they loved what they were hearing. Hendrix, The Who, Country Joe McDonald, Joe Cocker, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and Sly and the Family Stone. That was just a few, but the ones I played yesterday afternoon and people kind of stopped what they were doing and just listened.

That music had a way of doing that. The genius of this music was it was transcending. It caught you and stopped you and it recorded its presence on your soul.

Many people can remember where they were when they first heard, Purple Haze or Turn, Turn, Turn. They can associate the girl or the guy they were dating when Spencer Davis sang or when Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart teamed up on the Truth Album. For me, I get Goosebumps to this day listening to the first Crosby, Stills and Nash record.

And this is somehow different than our parent’s generation with their music – but maybe not. Maybe it is just because it was OUR music. Maybe each generation has that special moment when the planets align and the artist are struck with the righteous arrows from the creative muse. All I know, is that almost forty years after the fact we are still hearing the songs of MY GENERATION played over and over and they are as good now as they were then.

As my son said upon hearing Disraeli Gears by Cream, “Wow, they are good. Are they new?”

Not new. Old as the hills, but the music transcends time. Just as great jazz does, or the blues or wonderful classical music. Rock from our era will be part of the collectables for audiophiles for decades or centuries to come. James Taylor will be enjoyed right next to Etta James. The Beatles and Beethoven will be revered in the same breath.

We were lucky –nay fortunate– to have lived through such a wonderfully creative time. The music was and is a part of our lives. We had out first dates with it, our first loves, our first children or perhaps our first affairs…who knows.  But one thing is for sure.  Stand in a crowd of folk from My Generation and play one of these groups and watch. Their eyes will drift away and slight smiles will curl at the edge of their lips while they remember where they were when that song tattooed their soul forever.

The one thing I hope above all else, is that if I get Alzheimer’s or even truly advanced dementia, that I will never forget the music. For with it, I will have all kinds of great memories.