It’s My Mother’s Fault
Although I am certainly not the hippest gal you’ll ever meet, I do think I practice The Art of Cool in a subtle way…meaning I notice my coolness and about six other people would probably attest to my coolness while adding the qualifier “Yeah, but in kinda a dorky way.”
Well I am about to tarnish my fragile Sheen of Cool with a confession that’s such a well-kept secret, not even my husband knows about it.
I know the words to almost every song by Helen Reddy.
Don’t know who that is? Let me enlighten you. She is the Australian songstress that gave us such hits as, “Angie Baby,” “I Am Woman,” and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.”
Since last Wednesday, when it suddenly became embedded in my brain, this Helen Reddy song has haunted me.
Man, I could sing along with the whole song. It totally confused me when I was young and I often wondered if “mansion in the sky” meant the lady was going to die and go to heaven and then did that mean the man she was “meetin’ here today” was Jesus? And then I probably got distracted by my Princess Barbie’s glittery dress and stopped thinking about it.
Maybe you’re wondering how this knowledge of Ms. Reddy came about. Well that’s easy. It’s my mom’s fault.
You see, my mom loved Helen Reddy and owned her Greatest Hits cassette tape, which she often played in the car or at home. And since my sister and I were often wherever my mom was, Helen Reddy became the soundtrack to our youth.
I did not intend to memorize the words to Helen Reddy’s Greatest Hits, it just happened. As I innocently played with my My Little Ponies or imaginary friend, Jay Ky (there’s another confession), Helen Reddy seeped into my brain cells and will forever dominate at least a dozen of them.
So, if you’re interested, take a moment and enjoy all that Ms. Reddy has to offer. You’ll be experiencing some of the tunes I grew up listening to. And mom, you could’ve done way worse than Helen Reddy, so thank you.
So, what songstress will be the backdrop for your baby girl's childhood?
I don't get it but I still think you are cool:-) Hee, hee, hee.
You are an evil young lady! It is gonna take me days to get "Delta Dawn" out of my head. The only consolation I will have is knowing that 1/2 of the Napa PO is gonna gave that song stuck in their heads after I get done humming it all morning.
I hope you're happy with yourself!
Hi-I've been reading your blog for close to a year now and this post requires me to comment! For you it was Helen Reddy. For my sister's and myself it was Abba. Summer vacations meant loading up the motor home and touring the U.S. listening to Abba 8-tracks. When I bought the Abba Gold cd about 10 years ago, the song order in the cd was off from the song order of the tapes. When I told my parents this, my mom laughed.
Liz you could definitely have been subjected to much worse! My childhood take-away (and I'm grateful it wasn't worse) is Johnny Mathis. To this day, I still melt when I hear "Chances Are."
One of my best adult Christmases: The mother bought me two Johnny Mathis Christmas cassettes!
It sounds like many of us were permanently impacted by the music our parents listened to. From Abba (thanks for the comment 3beards!) to Johnny Mathis, there will always be songs that take us back to our childhood. Thanks for all the comments!