KHJ – Johnny Williams – November 26, 1971 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
You didn’t think about it before – but you got to thinking about it now; here you are, crash-course and heading in the direction of graduating sometime in 1973. All of a sudden you’re in that place where you start thinking about everything you missed out on because you were born at a certain time and not the certain time everybody is talking about.
You were too young when Elvis Presley was on Ed Sullivan, in fact you weren’t even born then. People talk about Playhouse 90 and Estes Kefauver and you don’t even know what the means. You don’t remember much of anything, except being very small and the world was very large and none of it made any sense to you.
You were busy being a kid and now you’re convinced all the really big moments passed you by and here you are; stuck in 1971. You aren’t too crazy about the music – the news is depressing, but at least there’s Walter Cronkite. There’s still a war in Vietnam going on, but it looks like you’re going to miss getting drafted. By the time you graduate you’ll be able to vote because you’ll turn 18 and not have to be 21 anymore.
You look around and wonder if you’re going to feel warm and fuzzy when someone mentions All In Family or Room 222, or remember all the words to Rod Stewart’s Maggie May or want to be in a band like Yes – or get a lump in your throat when you recall exactly where you were the day Jim Morrison died. Or are all those days going to run together in one big chunk of life where you roll your eyes and shudder when somebody a lot younger than you asks what it was like to live in the 70s?
Maybe.
For a reminder of 1971, here’s 45 minutes of Johnny Williams, and the first minute of Charlie Tuna from KHJ on November 26, 1971 – the day after Thanksgiving.
And the hits just keep on comin’.
