Return of Memoryfest - Day 4/31

[bironic]

4. Kindergarten/Elementary School

In the living room of our old house, there was about a foot or a foot and a half of space between the side of the oatmeal-upholstered couch and the wall beneath the bay windows. In the corner sat the left half of a pair of old stereo speakers, tall and narrow, with wood veneer, a beige mesh front and a black brand label attached to the bottom corner. When I was little and my mom played a record, I would sometimes wedge myself in between the couch and the wall with my face right in front of the speaker, listening, sometimes scratching my nails lightly down the mesh. I'm pretty sure she told me not to do it, but I did anyway. I remember lying there on the carpet one sunny afternoon, happy and peaceful, while Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits played, humming to the familiar melodies of "Mrs. Robinson" and "I am a Rock" and "Scarborough Fair."


ETA: Stealing mer_duff's idea: You can listen to a live version of "Scarborough Fair" on YouTube (only slightly off-key) for atmosphere.

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Comments

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

Not stealing, sharing :) Ideas are meant to be shared!

When I was little, I would curl up in the armchair in the living room and listen to Neil Diamond's album "Tap Root Manuscript." I loved listening to side 2 (back in the days of vinyl) and pretending that I was in Africa. The rain in "Childsong" always seemed so real to me.

But my favourite song of all was Cracklin' Rosie. My father would put it on the stereo and my sister would hold onto one of his hands I would hold onto the other and he would swing us around until we were shrieking with laughter.

[purridot.livejournal.com]

What a memory you sparked in me -- Neil Diamond was the first man I wanted to marry. I was about six.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, records. I miss the pop-crackle of the needle settling into its groove when you first put the album on. The whir of a CD player starting up just doesn't evoke the same sense of anticipation.

Sounds giddy and wonderful, just as ideal childhood moments ought to be. Your dad must have been good and fit to swing the two of you around like that; if mine had tried, he probably would have hurt his back or shoulder. :) I think I'll do a happy dad/family-related memory tonight.

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

Heh. He was pretty fit and we would have been pretty young - I do remember as we got older (and bigger) we had to take turns swinging.