Five to Go Please, Hold the Disco.

What songs do you have to have? I mean you can take five with you when you go. Rock and Roll is the only qualification and I hope that saying Rock and Roll doesn't antiquate me, but if it does then it gives me some kind of twisted authority. Have you noticed that during the NCAA tourney that every time a financial planning commercial comes on it has music from the sixties and seventies? That's because somewhere a baby boomer is retiring and the only thing that can stir him out of his laz-e-boy coma is IN A FRICKIN GADDA-DA-VIDA by Iron Butterfly.
So he wakes up from his flash back and thinks, "Good Grief, is my 401k in order? Where's the love man?

Born in '58 I am the tail of the baby boomer generation. I protested against Disco. Not really a boomer not really a buster, our contribution was flannel shirts, Levi 501's and hiking boots. Good grief! I love John Denver AND U2! Everyone was worn out by the time it was our time. We were the margin. Who cared? Just get a job and let it go, cause the Yuppies will soon arrive and beach their Honda Accords and release their chocolate Labs on our shore.

So tonight, after one of my son's friends taped up my blown Polk audio speaker so it no longer rattled my teeth, I kept the tv off and listened to music. I loaded up the old Sony CD with my music. Alone, except for the dog, who obviously doesn't appreciate "my generation" and our music, I cranked it up and absorbed it like an albino in a tanning booth.

Music is a journey. I remember being mesmerized by a 45 on my sister's cheap mono-speaker turntable. Somehow Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" was encoding itself on my 10 year old brain. And the Beatle's "Revolution"? I still feel the song more than hear it. I love the music of the Doors but choose not to listen to them because they make me want to do things that are illegal. By the time I reached HIGH School the fight was over and everyone just mellowed out with the Eagles, Marshal Tucker, the Doobies, Jackson Browne and Poco.

College in the late seventies was just weird...everyone was confused. There was Black Sabbath AND the Pina Colada song. The overly tightened spandexed Bee Gees AND Peter Frampton. What were we to do? Go back to the basics....the Eagles and the Doobies. Ok, in a pinch- remember the doobies.

Do you realize our place in history? After years and years of the human struggle to achieve a better way of life it was my generation that finally gave us stereo?

So tonight, I am not disturbing anyone but the dog, who has escaped to the basement muttering something about that #*!@ bass boost, and possibly the neighbors since I realized it is pretty late for the tired old boomers in my neighborhood as I crank up "China Grove" by the Doobie Brothers.

And I wonder, If I can take five with me when I go, Which ones would they be?
WELL......tonight, at least, at this moment, for now, the way I am feeling, could be these, if I could only have five for the trip......Five songs to go....

Peaceful Easy Feeling....the Eagles (I like the way your sparkling earrings lie......)
Take it to the Limit.....the Eagles (pure, raw emotions)
Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For.....U2.... (well said)
Your Wildest Dreams.....Moody Blues (Great music, great lyrics, great vocals)
Against the Wind.....Bob Seger (poetic and true)

And.... as a bonus carry on...."The Long and Winding Road" the Beatles. Simply Beautiful, transcending all generations.

S0....what would be yours?