No Marvin Gaye 8-Tracks…

Somehow, and by the grace of God, I was exposed to Marvin Gaye at an early age. I don’t think my dad had that tape in the truck – I only remember Jim Croce and the Commodores. And when I say tape, I mean 8-track… But I know we had some Marvin Gaye vinyl at the house.

I am no Marvin historian, but by 1983, Marvin already had a pretty good drug problem and his life was all about turmoil. However, he was asked to sing the National Anthem of The United States of America at the 1983 NBA All-Star game. If you have watched much of the Olympics, you’ve probably seen the Nike commercial. I submit that the Nike commercial is borderline disrespectful to Marvin’s performance that day. Take the three minutes and listen, really listen to the whole performance/song. Turn it up or put on some headphones and really listen to him, standing there with a drum machine in the background and a mic. Listen how the crowd reacts and how moved they were by his performance. Just stunning, absolutely stunning… As you probably know, Marvin was killed a year later – shot twice by his father.

And, the reason for this post – is awe and surprise. You can’t get this track on iTunes! You can sift through mountains of American Idol crap, but you can’t get this song on iTunes… The album that it is on is a partial album. Granted, it’s a four cd set, but this track is not included. WTF?

Harsh reality…

Sunday, my wife and I were driving to church. Nothing out of the ordinary, really – but I decided that I needed to hear some music from my iPhone during the ride in. After a few songs, my wife flat out told me, “You know, when we first met, I thought you were a huge dork. Then the more we hung out and I realized you listened to good music, you got cuter.”

Now, I am not surprised by the revelation that someone thought/thinks I am a dork. I have more than one blog and a twitter account, most people think that is enough. But to think that the mother of my two kids is with me today because of my cd collection is, well, amazing, exciting and flat out scary as hell!

I don’t remember trying to impress her with the music I listened to and I don’t think that my taste has really changed all that much. However, I do/did have some guilty pleasure cds. What if she “found” my Vanilla Ice cd? Wait, I used to play it when I got drunk so she definitely heard that… What if she found my ENIGMA cd? Wait, every guy in college had one of those…

But, she doesn’t seem to remember those (thank the Lord) or, at least, she didn’t judge me by them. She heard a few easy songs by The Black Crowes and told me that it reminded her of being young and being with me and those are good memories for her. Turns out, they are the best memories for me!

The obligatory Dad blog…

There are a lot, and I mean A LOT of Dad blogs out there. There are even MORE Mom blogs out there. So, does it mean this is a Dad blog because I am a Dad? Not really, but that is what it turns out to be. A Dad Blog. Just count me in as one of the many.

So, what is the first post? What is the thing that has been on my mind that FINALLY drove me to create my own spot on the web? It should be something creative, something really hip and catchy… But, it turns out that it really isn’t. I wanted to post and talk about music. Really?

I was driving the other day, go figure, and a song came on the radio that really made me think about my girls. Honestly, it got to me. It is a song by Trace Adkins called “You’re Gonna Miss This.” In a nutshell, it talks about how things may not look so good from where you are standing at some particular point in time, but one day you’re going to look back and see how good things were/are. For starters, I am lucky. Very lucky. I may not have been dealt the best cards but it is certainly good enough to stick around and play! In other words, you won’t find me really complaining too often. But, I also know that I take things for granted more than I should.

There are a few other songs that really get me – Jimmy Buffett’s “Little Miss Magic,” Lenny Kravitz’s “Butterfly,” Kenny Chesney’s “There Goes My Life.” I imagine these songs get me because I have girls and these seem to be about, well, girls. I even made them a little mix CD (can you tell I grew up in the 80’s?) so they would have some of these favorite songs when they get older – assuming they have something to listen to a CD on when they get that age

So, as a parent, what are some songs or music that make you think of your kids and why? Would you share these songs and stories with them as they get older?