Sometimes I needed a little push before I decided to like a song. These are the people who did the pushing. Each of them told me that they liked a song and I decided to like it because they did. It’s no surprise that when I hear these songs, I think of the influencers who introduced them to me. This perhaps begs the question: What do these songs tell us about the influencers?
1968 Hey Jude The Beatles Debbie Baker
Hey Jude Lyrics
Debbie Baker LOVED The Beatles! When she would get a new Beatles album, she would play it for us when she came to babysit. I remember her trying to play The Walrus backwards on our record player. For Hey Jude specifically, Judy Taylor also gets some credit for its introduction.
1970 The Boxer Simon & Garfunkel Molly
The Boxer Lyrics
Unlike her older brother, Molly was patient to explore past the radio-played songs on an album and occasionally discovered songs like The Boxer. I remember her telling me it was her favorite song from the Bridge Over Troubled Water album. I wonder if Molly, at the time, understood the desperate loneliness of that song, or if, like me, it was just the catchy repetition of “Lie-la-lie” that give it its appeal.
1970 Green Eyed Lady Sugarloaf Steve Hammond
Green Eyed Lady Lyrics
It was no secret that I enjoyed Steve’s company as well as his world. He had the coolest bedroom, tinkered with electronics and reached out to the universe on his ham radio. His closet was filled with treasures like King Arthur’s shield, and his treehouse was almost too high. He once took me along to destroy a nest of yellowjackets! In 1970, the year Green Eyed Lady was released, Steve was 15 and on the verge of driving and girlfriends. That same year, 9-year-old me moved far away -- perhaps to Steve’s relief. In this context, it doesn’t come as a surprise Steve’s preference for this song. Or mine.
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