MUSIC FOR LAWNMOWERS

When I was growing up, we had to pay a penance to get to the beach. That meant that the weekends usually found my brothers and I out in the yard, mowing the lawn, clipping hedges, picking up snails (for a bounty of a penny each), and, every couple years, painting the house. My sisters would be assigned chores in the house (these were pre-women's lib days), my mom would be grocery shopping, and my dad would be working on something in the garage. My dad's radio would usually be tuned to a ball game, or a pop station (typically light pop). So, my aural associations of those days are of Jerry Coleman (Padres play-by-play), Vin Scully (likewise, Dodgers), and an amalgamation of cheesy pop. The music could be anything from Bacharach, to the Fifth Dimension, with some Herp Albert, Glen Campbell and Sergio Mendez thrown in. It took me a long time to appreciate the context of light pop, and when I finally did, I was roughly the same age as my dad during those years. (Though, I didn't fall prey to the flat top.) I don't remember if the radio in the garage ever played Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood's duets, but they were certainly the type of music that might have been played, so I'd lump them with the rest of Lawnmower Gold.

Now, as an full blown (well, maybe half-blown) adult, I have no children, no lawn, and no chores that I can't ignore. But I still have Jerry Coleman, Vin Scully and light pop. And when I hear any of the three, I can practically smell cut grass.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Nancy and Lee - Summer Wine mp3 (right click to save) at For the Sake of the Song
Nancy & Lee - Some Velvet Morning mp3 (right click to save) at Everybody Taste
Who is Lee Hazlewood? (right click to save) at Probe is Turning on the People