Googling Googie

Maybe it had something to do with the hour I spent at Vromans on Friday, while a gaggle of rowdy women impatiently waited for Suze Orman to arrive, flipping through Alan Hess's Googie Redux: Ultramodern Roadside Architecture, which features Covina's own Covina Bowl, but I've been on a retro kick all weekend.

I spent most of Saturday afternoon downloading songs from the 80s using the iTunes card Liza gave me for my birthday. As it turned out, there were only five songs I really wanted: "Voices Carry," "Total Eclipse of the Heart," "Somebody to Love," "Shoop," and "Wishing Well." After that I went back further and downloaded a few girl group songs from the 1960s.

Growing up I went through a phase that lasted a few months when all I listened to was KRTH. I'm not a big Beatles fan but soul music--Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations--did it for me. It all started when I saw The Commitments and grew from there. After a while, though, more contemporary music started seeping in again but I still listen to oldies every now and then. Lately, though, not so much.

So listening to the stuff I downloaded this weekend just brings back memories of lying in the dark trying to fall asleep while the radio played the Ronettes. I used to wish I lived through the 1950s and 1960s. Everything just seemed so peaceful back then. I can't say I still feel that way, but the music resonates still. Is there no better song than "Then He Kissed Me"? Everytime I hear it I think I'm in love. I can't think of a recent song that makes me feel the same way. Perhaps "Walking on Sunshine" comes closest, but that song was twenty years ago and feeds off the same blissed out vibe as "Then He Kissed Me." The Shins' "Turn On Me" sounds like "Then He Kissed Me" in the first couple of chords and it's also quite an effective song, albeit about falling out of love.

Anyway, I'm rambling. It was nice to listen to "clean and articulate" music. I ought to listen to oldies more to cleanse the palate.

The Downloads (Spector-centric, to be sure)
The Crystals - "Then He Kissed Me"
The Crystals - "He's a Rebel"
The Dixie Cups - "Iko Iko"
The Dixie Cups - "Chapel of Love"
Betty Everett - "It's in His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song)"
Dee Dee Warwick - "You're No Good"
Mary Wells - "Bye Bye Baby"
The Shirelles - "Dedicated to the One I Love"