A Long and Winding Road
Hearing Maureen McGovern’s theatrical concert last night was special, not because she is the greatest singer around, but because she is my age and sings the songs that are woven into my life. “A long and winding road” summed up the evening quite well.
She touched on the death of JFK, the Vietnam War, the emergence of the Beatles, the horror of AIDS, the music of Carol King, Bob Dylan, and many others. A memorable “piece” was the conglomeration of nonsense syllables, like "Shoo-bop, shoo-bop," "Do-lang, do-lang, do-lang" and maybe 20 more, that characterized some of the songs we baby boomers grew up with.
I realized that I had never paid a lot of attention to many of those songs, like Rocky Raccoon, that all of a sudden made so much sense when she slowed it down and I listened to the words.
For some reason toward the end of the evening when she sang, “After all the loves of my life, I will be thinking of you and wondering why,” I found my eyes filling with tears. It was indeed a long road for all of us who are at or around 60.
posted by Barbara at 11:22 AM
10 Comments:
It sounds like a very full night, with a great concert plus a memory trip down your own long and winding road. I can't imagine how many twists mine will take by the time I'm 60; I look forward to looking back.
There is something about the human brain that links music to memory. The concert sounds lovely.
I saw Maureen McGovern in Pirates of Penzance. She replaced Linda Ronstadt on Broadway and was fantastic.
I don't even know that one hit you wrote about. I thought her only hits were 'Morning After' and the theme song to the sitcom Angie.
Sounds like a lovely evening!
Speaking of turning 60, a belated b'day present I ordered and finally received will be headed your way tomorrow afternoon...
XO,
F.
Kristin -- I think you will have traveled around the world about 3 times by the time you are 60.
Merle -- Definitely music and memory are linked.
Gary -- I stand corrected. "The Morning After" was her one big claim to fame. I don't think she sang it last night. I can imagine she might be sick of it by now.
Anon -- Can't wait for my package to arrive! Miss you so much!
xx
Sounds like a great concert. I remember dancing to those shoo-bop, do-lang tunes :)
Even at 63 I feel merely middle-aged. I am going to visit a friend in Vermont next week who will turn 101 tomorrow. She says she'd like to live until she's 106 and if she's still having fun, she'll stay longer. I want to be just like her when I grow up.
Sounds great.. nothing like old memories!
I can't believe you never paid attention to Rocky Raccoon!
How could you not pay attention to a song with a name like that?
I saw her perform outdoors at Lincoln Center right after I moved to New York. She's terrific!
(But I still always think of that song from "The Poseidon Adventure" when I hear her name.)
music and memory--very strong connections!
I can't believe I never heard of her, I'll go and check youtube.
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