Close to you

I am at loss for words when it comes to the  memories this song brings to me. I was young and hadn’t yet gotten to the age of falling in love. Yet this song gave me a comfort, and a glimpse of what romance must be just from the beauty of the music. I knew every single word of this song and could sing it from start to finish. Of corse I could because I had listened to it daily on my handheld transistor radio. A radio I still have to this day.

Still in its carrying case.

The station you ask? Oh that would have been AM 1240 WROV. The radio? Yes it still works. It was at my side for years and even survived a few bicycle crashes. My brother found it in a drawer when cleaning out our mother’s house after I moved her out here to live with me. He saved it from the sale for me as he knew how much I treasured it as a young boy.

I post the tune today as I can’t think of a better song to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day. I send you love and hope that you in turn spread love to everyone you see and touch today.

Carpenters – (They Long To Be) Close To You – 1970

Why do birds suddenly appear
Every time you are near?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you

Why do stars fall down from the sky
Every time you walk by?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you

On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue

That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you

On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue

That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you

Just like me, they long to be
Close to you

Wa, close to you
Wa, close to you
Ha, close to you
La, close to you

(….oh and yes Karen was not only the vocalist, but also the drummer. )

1988 Copa Key West

I danced my ass off to this one right there on one of the best dance floors in the entire world at The Copa Key West. Damn this one was fun.

Kon Kan – I Beg Your Pardon – 1988

This song is the question to Lynn Anderson’s answer from her hit Rose Garden.

Winter Wonderland

Back in the early 1970s whenever this Herb Albert album hit dad’s turntable I knew that the Christmas season had started.

Herb Albert and The Tijuana Brass – Winter Wonderland – 1968

Tear The Roof Off The Sucker

Experiencing high school in the early 1980s blessed me with an incredible life soundtrack. Parliament is a staple in that soundtrack and what I’m listening to this very moment.

Parliament – 1975 – Give Up The Funk

The Dead South

Having grown up in Appalachia I know this song well.

This is a beautiful twist on a lifelong favorite tune.

The Dead South – You Are My Sunshine – 2021

Let’s Do The Time Warp Again

Words can’t express the gratitude I have that this tune is part of my life’s soundtrack.

Rocky Horror Picture Show – Time Warp – 1975

Don’t Fear The Reaper

This one is not only a classic from my youth, but a favorite. It’s not exactly a Halloween classic, but it’s subject matter of the Reaper gets it on our holiday playlist.

Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear The Reaper – 1976

Namesake

This classic popped into my YouTube feed moments ago. I have no reason to know why as I haven’t ever searched Nicolette Larson. However there is a reason I stopped everything to push play.

Nicolette Larson – Lotta Love – 1978

My first dog that I ever brought to my own home after leaving my parents house was a blonde cocker spaniel named Nicholas. Unfortunately in the first week of his stay at my home he got loose and ran into a busy street about 3 blocks away. We found his body lying in the bushes of the median the next day.

I returned to the SPCA where I had adopted him and a new litter of puppies had arrived. They were mixed Shepard puppies, 8 of them. As I sat on the floor with them and they played and played it was so hard to decide as to which one would be mine. All of the sudden it was obvious. One of them, a little girl, had gotten comfortable in my crossed legged lap and fallen asleep. It was a match.

After bringing her home the first thing was to name her. Nicholas had a name from his previous owner, she was just an 8 week old ball of fur. Naming her after him seemed fitting. Nicolette came to mind which was immediately followed by this song popping into my head from one of my favorite late 1970s artist, remember this was the early 1980s so late ‘70s artist were relatively fresh. That would be it, her name would be Nicolette Larson.

From that day forward she was my baby and her name sake a favorite artist. Now to find a photo from the days long before digital photography.
…I’ll post a photo as soon as I find a good one.

Cheers to both Nicolette Larson the singer and Nicolette Larson my dearest first dog as both of you are long on the other side of the rainbow bridge. One day I’ll see you both again.

Godspeed.

A Little After Pride Music

Taking a twirl across the Dance Floor at The Copa Key West to this tune was an out of body experience. Wow, what a charmed life I’ve lived.

Communards – Never Can Say Goodbye – 1987

A Little Pride Music

I was literally brought out of the closet and into a fully gay life with this 12 inch single permanently on the turntable in the first house I shared with my first lover, and a night on a gay club’s dance floor in the early 1980s wasn’t complete with a twirl to this fabulous number.

Festival – Don’t Cry For Me Argentina – 1979

A Little Pride Music

One of my favorite tunes ever made. Period. Wouldn’t be Pride without it.

New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle – 1986

Silly Love Songs

As a young man stepping into puberty, 1976 was a carefree summer of fun. Life was new, life was exciting and life was exhilarating. I was changing and the world was changing.
This tune was full of joy and always gave me a kick in my step.

Wings / Paul and Linda McCartney – Silly Love Songs – 1976

🎵“Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs
And what’s wrong with that?”🎶

There is nothing wrong with that.

Thank you Paul McCartney for your many places in the soundtrack that is my life. This one never fails to bring me joy.

He’s gonna get you Red Barron!

In the mid 1960s a young towheaded boy loved Snoopy so much that his father nicknamed him just that, Snoopy. Needless to say that when The Royal Guardsman released  Snoopy’s Christmas in 1967, a 45 rpm copy of it was at the top of his list to Santa. Santa brought him his wish and he played that little record over and over until he wore it out.

That little towhead grew up, as all little boys do, and his nickname fell by the wayside. The towhead turned dirty blonde and eventually mousy brown and his beard came in a thick dark brown. Today his beard has become rather Fearsome, although the color has become salt and pepper with more and more salt every day.

The little boy inside of this fifty something large bearded man still loves Snoopy and to this day can never get enough of this Christmas tune.

The Royal Guardsmen – Snoopy’s Christmas – 1967

 

The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle

Pure childhood nostalgia describes what this holiday tune is for me. Dad loved both Burt Bacharach and Herb Albert so this was a holiday staple at our house. Hearing it still invokes the excitement of the approaching visit of Santa. 

Herb Albert – The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle – 1968 – written by Burt Bacharach 

A Christmas bell was cryin’ and Santa heard it say
I just can’t seem to jingle and I can’t go on the sleigh
Then Santa soon discovered the reason that it cried
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it had nothin’ there inside

Then Santa said
“Jack Frost will bring my Christmas gift to you
And on Christmas Eve, you’ll jingle
Just like you were brand new”

Then Jack Frost froze a teardrop
So each time that it swayed
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way

Then Santa said
“Jack Frost will bring my Christmas gift to you
And on Christmas Eve, you’ll jingle
Just like you were brand new”

Then Jack Frost froze a teardrop
So each time that it swayed
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
The bell that couldn’t jingle, it went jingling all the way
It went jingling all the way, it went jingling all the way

 

I Beg Your Pardon

I never promised you a rose garden.

Lynn Anderson – ( I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden – Live performance 2011

🎵 So smile for a while and let’s be jolly, love shouldn’t be so melancholy, come on and enjoy the good times while we ca-a-a-aan 🎶

I’ve always rather enjoyed this tune from my childhood.

From my youth

Due to the turbulence of the times I have been rather nostalgic of late. I guess you could call it yearning for a simpler, less stressful time.
Given what was going on in 1973 I’m not sure of it was actually a less stressful time. However being that I was a kid, I wasn’t carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.
Today, for some unknown reason, King Harvest’s Dancing in the Moonlight came to mind as my song of comfort. The tune is simple, melodic and fun.
May it bring you the moment of peace it has brought me.

King Harvest – Dancing in the Moonlight – 1973

Elvin Bishop

Being that I was a kid growing up in the 1970s, I look back on life with an awesome soundtrack. One of the jewels of that soundtrack is Elvin Bishop’s Fooled Around and Fell in Love.
Last evening as I was about to retire to the luxury of my extra firm California King bed, this popped up in my you tube feed. Being a nostalgic guy I couldn’t help but to click play.
Wow, there is a reason that this tune is a jewel in the Fearsome soundtrack of life. Mickey Thomas, one of Elvin’s back up singers at the time, is one truly talented singer. He is the one actually singing lead on this track.  This video is of his Midnight Special performance in 1977. The Midnight Special performances can be hit or miss. This is a hit.  A hit out of the park in fact.
It also is followed by the studio recording from which it became famous, a double feature of sorts. Enjoy!

Elvin Bishop – Fooled Around and Fell in Love – Midnight Special 1977

One should also note that I was pubescent at the time this song was released. Many a man crush I had at the time was consoled by the lyrics of this song. Oh… and the drummer is way hot.

Weekend Jam

Fleetwood Mac was a staple of Fearsome’s childhood, since he was simply peach fuzz. He always stops to take a listen when one of their tunes crosses his path. The memories live on and color the new experiences.

Fleetwood Mac – The Chain – 1977

Heaven

London gay life in the 1980s.

While I wasn’t in London at the time, I did start going to gay clubs while still in high school in 1981. This isn’t exactly my history but it’s not unlike my history.

Lola

If my early 1980’s boom box cassette player had turned up to 11, like it should have, it would have been on 11 instead of it’s meager 10 as I blasted this tune during my move into my Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity house. I was a freshman and had just made it through rush and initiations.

My high school buddy Robert was moving in at the same time and we luckily got rooms right across the hall from each other. I remember Robert and I singing this 10 year old tune in the hallway as it vibrated the walls of my room as it’s beat spilled into the hallway where we stood. I handed him an ice cold bottle of Old Milwaukee beer as we congratulated each other for making the cut. We were no longer high school buds but actual fraternity brothers. Our bottles clanked together to mark the occasion.

Funny that we didn’t fully grasp it’s story, but we loved it anyhow.

Lola – The Kinks – Beat Club 1972