Musical Memories
Matt Seinberg

Every once in a while, I’ll hear a song on the radio that makes me say: “Oh, Wow.” Then a flood of memories come rushing forward. One of those songs, which I hardly hear anymore, is “Close To You,” by The Carpenters. I was in seventh grade when this was a hit and my girlfriend at the time, Meredith Miller, loved that song, so of course I had to like it too.

My friend Mike wrote an interesting paragraph this past week. He said if I wanted to use it in my column I could. I checked it out and found it to be very creative and fun. Here it is.

Do you remember those days: so much packed into so short a period. 

In the morning I'd be SITTIN' ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY. At night there was always a hot time in the SUMMER IN THE CITY. I'd go to a GARDEN PARTY to do some GROOVIN’ ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON and DANCE, DANCE, DANCE & have FUN, FUN, FUN with all the GOOD VIBRATIONS. And when it came to pass, that YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELING and have ONE LESS BELL TO ANSWER  you were sure SUNDAY WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. I'd WALK LIKE A MAN even though inside I had TEARS LIKE A CLOWN. I wondered, DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC? Suddenly ALONG COMES MARY or maybe her name was SHERRY, and I told her I CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU and I wanted to make her MY GIRL and would CHERISH her. When MONDAY MONDAY came around and MORNING HAS BROKEN, you were happy for the great weekend.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS my friend, we thought they'd never end.

I love music and couldn’t have come up with that in the twenty minutes it took Mike to do it. Kudos buddy!

How about the first song I played on my college radio station? It was “Music,” by English performer John Miles. John Who you ask? I have no idea either. I picked it by accident, and it stayed with me for a long time. Years later, I found the song on Napster and downloaded it. I now keep it on my computer and iTouch to bring back those wonderful college days.

Other songs that hold a special place in my musical heart are “Magic Man” by Heart, because that’s how I got my radio nickname, Magic Matt. “Taxi” and “Sequel, by Harry Chapin, because I got to meet Harry a couple of times in high school and college, and those songs tell a great story. If you’ve ever been into sex, drugs and rock and roll, but in a more mellow way, these are great songs.

The Moody Blues “Your Wildest Dreams” and “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” are story songs about chasing, finding, losing and finding again the love of your life.

Who can forget Pink Floyd’s albums: “Dark Side of the Moon” (DSOTM) and “Wish You Were Here? (WYWH)” Those were two of the best albums to listen to while partying with friends. My favourite cut from “DSOTM” is “Money.” From “WYWH,” it’s “Welcome to the Machine.” Ah, the good old days.

From the self-titled first album from Boston, “Smokin” and “Hitch A Ride” were always my favorite cuts, and while they weren’t on the weekend Top 40 playlist, I was able to play the entire album on WNYT’s progressive format during the week. I think I snuck them in during the weekend as well. Hey, it was college radio, who cared what we did? It was all about having fun and picking up girls on the phone.

Today, my kids like music so different from my taste it’s scary. Sometimes I’ll pick a song I know they like, and play it death in the car on the house, until they can’t stand it anymore. I did that with “Stronger,” by Kelly Clarkson, they begged me to stop playing it; same thing with Pitbull and anything from “Planet Pit.” I truly do love torturing my children the way they torture me. Turnabout is fair play.

In a previous column, I talked about how my wife Marcy and I can’t agree on any kind of music. All she ever says is, “Play something nice.” HUH? The days of soft rock on WYNY-FM Y97 and WLTW-FM Lite FM are long gone, but she doesn’t realize that. If we’re in the car together, I’ll put on WPLJ-FM, just so I won’t hear any complaining. There is nothing worse than having a woman whine in the car about the type of music, and how loud it is. That’s where the Cone of Silence would once again come in handy or the ejector seat if it gets really bad.

Give me anything by Jimmy Buffett, a margarita on a white sand beach and blue water, and I’m a very happy guy. No matter how many times I hear “Margaretville,” a smile always comes to my face. One thing that is my own bucket list is meeting Jimmy and hanging out with him and the Coral Reefers.

Do you think if I meet Jimmy, Jennifer Love Hewitt would finally show up?