Your first "favorite song"

Mentioned this topic at work ... and one of our older country fans remembered this:

 

"It's All Right To Cry" by Rosey Grier. I was the exact perfect age for the Free To Be You And Me album.

 

My first favorite song is my current favorite song and likely always will be my favorite song.

 

Such a great song.

 

Another for "Rhinestone Cowboy." My mom had the 45. I remember playing it over and over. She also had "The Streak," which I liked but didn't love.

Definitely remember watching "Sonny and Cher," though. And "Hee Haw." But no contest - "Rhinestone Cowboy" all the way.

 

Written by Willie Nelson

 

Classic Deep South skating rink song, along with John Anderson's "Swingin.'"

 

On a slow night about 25 years ago, a sports desk co-worker and I decided to recite the lyrics of "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (we both liked Gordon Lightfoot and enjoyed the song) from start to finish because we knew it would irritate a crotchety, curmudgeonly older copy editor who didn't like ambient noise. Mission accomplished.

 

I'd have gone with "Walk On The Wild Side," by Lou Reed.

 

There was a whole string of dueling/one-upping mega-pop-rock giant pseudo-gospel hits from 1968-70:

"Hey Jude," the Beatles
"In The Ghetto," Elvis
"Bridge Over Troubled Waters," S&G
"You Can't Always Get What You Want," the Rolling Stones
"We're Not Gonna Take It/See Me, Feel Me/Listening to You," the Who
"Let It Be," the Beatles, again.

Plus a bunch more I'm forgetting, I'm sure. But that whole faux-choral style had a big run during those 2-3 years.

 

Rhinestone Cowboy
The Candy Man
Blinded By The Light (wrapped up like a douche), Manfred Mann version
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The first two I played over and over at my grandparents' house on a console stereo that probably weighed 250 pounds. The last two were part of a stack that I played on a console stereo in my stepfather's house.

They all produced different emotions in a kid in the 1970s. First one, mostly pure joy because I could sing along and imagine being the Rhinestone Cowboy, but also a bit of uneasy melancholoy that "offers coming over the phone" produced. The second one, I liked candy. A lot. The third one, really my first toe-dip into rock and roll, and the ending that builds and builds with two sets of lyrics sung at the same time seemed wonderfully cool at the time. The last one, the story of the doomed ship, and I always hoped they could put 15 more miles behind her.

I lost those 45s a long time ago.

 

Every time I hear this song, it immediately takes me back to the heady, early days of the space program. My Dad, an RCA engineer working at Patrick AFB's Tech Lab, loved this song and could play the melody on the piano, which was about the extent of his repertoire.