Saturday, November 15, 2014

Sentimental Saturday - Petula Clark

You'd Better Love Me & Downtown are two songs from my early childhood. I was lucky enough to have older sisters who introduced me to the world of pop & motown. We would perform Mr. Sandman for our parents, lip syncing to the Lennon Sisters 45 record. Soon after came a stream of hits by the Temptations, the Fifth Dimension, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Ike & Tina Turner, and the list goes on and on.
The music changed with the times, and we were listening. Three Dog Night, the Kinks, the Beatles, Elvis, the Who, Buddy Holly, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar. We changed right along with the music.
Proudly wearing our MIA bracelets, swearing not to take them off until the soldiers came home from Vietnam. We listened to the Doors, Barry McGuire, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin,  Songs like Eve of Destruction and We Gotta Get Out of This Place gave us clues to what was going on.
Since then, the music industry has exploded with many really good styles of music, and they all tell a story. But this isn't  about that, it's about a brief time of music before really understanding. Petula Clark was a modern princess to me. Her wide lined eyes, short hair, mini-dress, translated to simple fun for me, because I was a child and that's all I could understand. Listening to her music today transports me back, for a brief moment to the day before things got "busy".
Happy Sentimental Saturday. Close your eyes and listen.

7 comments:

Joanna Jenkins said...

Love Petula Clark and her fabulous name too.
xoxo jj

diane said...

Joanna, she really helped define an era. Loved her in To Sir With Love.

David H said...

That was Lulu in To Sir With Love...

diane said...

David, you are so right, haha. Oh well, she was great.

Jocelyn said...

Oh, I've missed you! What a delight to see your comment today and then click over here. Yay for reconnecting with Diane!

Maria said...

This song takes me back to memories of my older sister, Patrice getting ready to go on a date. She would be in the bathroom, doing her makeup and Petula Clark, Lulu and Claudine Longet would be playing on the stereo. Thanks!

diane said...

Maria, I've been to your blog, and your taste in music is very up to date. I'm glad this post brought back a good memory for you.