When I hear Bobby Vinton singing Sealed With a Kiss, it takes me right back to sitting in my Mama's yellow porch swing and listening to the radio in the summer of 1972.
Now THAT was a summer.
I spent those summer days in a factory spraying glue to stick cloth on backing to make stereo speakers, and I spent those summer nights hanging out with my friends. We rode around in souped up cars singing to our 8 track tape players playing The Grass Roots Greatest Hits and Carole King's Tapestry.
We listened to Billboard's Top Rock and Roll Hits on the radio and we took some time to just be young.
Little did I know that the very next summer I would be married and expecting my first child. Life is funny like that. You never know when it is going to suddenly change drastically.
Always remember:
- A single day can change the course of your life.
- A single decision in a single day can change the course of your life.
- There are no coincidences.
- All things happen as they should.
For instance, one day in the summer of 1972 I was riding in the front seat of Larry White's 1971 bright orange Plymouth Road Runner. Larry was my younger sister's boyfriend at the time and he had offered to give me a ride somewhere.
We ended up stuck in traffic behind a convoy of jeeps filled with new draftees for the Vietnam War.
Larry was depressed that day because he, like most young men who graduated high school in 1972, was afraid of being drafted and having to go fight a very unpopular war.
The young men on the back of the jeep in front of us started whistling at me and motioning for me to throw them cigarettes. They puffed imaginary cigarettes and showed me such pitiful pleading hands and faces.
They seemed a fun-loving bunch, and they made me laugh.
Larry had a pack of Winstons in the car and I must have thrown five or six of them before one of the young men caught one. He blew kisses at me and smiled and they all let out a great cheer and waved and laughed.
Those boys.
I think of them often. They were so young. The one who caught the cigarette was a handsome thing. Tall and thin with black hair and a brilliant smile. I will never forget him.
I can't help but wonder what happened to those young men. Did they all return from Vietnam? Did they marry and raise a family and live ordinary lives after that, or were they damaged by that war? Did they have nightmares? Did they ever laugh and cheer and catch cigarettes again?
1972 was a year of change for me. It was one of the best and one of the worst years of my life, but that summer was certainly memorable, and every time I hear these songs, I remember, and I wonder. If you are near my age, I bet you do too.
- Alone Again (Naturally
- American Pie
- Candy Man
- Lean On Me
- Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me
- Brand New Key
- Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)
- Nice To Be With You
- My Ding-A-Ling
- Betcha By Golly, Wow
- The Lion Sleeps Tonight
- Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)
- Song Sung Blue
- A Horse With No Name
- Everybody Plays The Fool
- Precious And Few
- Last Night I Didn't Get To Sleep At All
- Nights In White Satin
- Too Late To Turn Back Now
- Down By The Lazy River
- Rocket Man
- Rockin' Robin
- Morning Has Broken
- The City Of New Orleans
- Garden Party
- I Can See Clearly Now
- Burning Love
- Hold Your Head Up
- Where Is The Love
- Layla
- Sylvia's Mother
- Hurting Each Other
- Puppy Love
- You Don't Mess Around With Jim
- Never Been To Spain
- Sealed With A Kiss
- Doctor My Eyes
It's really hard to read those titles without singing the songs in your head, isn't it?! 😆
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