As I am packing for my move, I had the TV on a few nights ago listening to American Idol. I admit it! Okay there! It caught my ear. The idol contestants were singing songs from the Rolling Stones and it clearly caught my attention. Some did a great job while others might as well have thrown a pie in Stones faces. Still, what a group to take on and of course this got me thinking…

The Rolling Stones happen to be the longest running act in the history of rock music with over 40-year career. Though I could swear it is probably 50 years, even though they all look like they are 100 years old. My spouse calls them dias de los muertos, but what we know is that they still are making music, and they are still rocking!

 Their debut album came out in 1964 I was six years old and could have cared less. It wasn’t until a year later in the summer of 1965 the Stones recorded I Can’t Get No Satisfaction. The Stones caught my attention as I began to play the riff on my out of tune guitar. I could not quite tune the guitar, but I clearly could play Satisfaction.

 The next time the Stones caught my attention was in 1967 when they did Ruby Tuesday and Let’s Spend The Night Together. For this young rocker, they were not as good as the Beatles, but they came in a close second. I caught myself learning the songs and playing them. Still, I did not own an album of theirs yet. Perhaps I was too busy with the Beatles.

They caught my attention again when Mother’s little Helper and Paint it Black came out. I started to become a real fan. It was finally in 1968 that the stones turned my head with Sympathy for the Devil and I went running to the record store to start listening to The Stones.

I recall my mother disliking us kids listening to the stone because there was so much drug abuse and media surround this band. I did not care, the more they made headlines with their rock and roll antics, the more I began to dig this British band.

Mick Jagger had a stage presence that as a kid I loved to imitate his elastic body gestures but as an adult could never imagine imitating. There was something about Jagger that I liked. Maybe it was he seemed unreal. Maybe it was his bad boy image, or his extreme feminine side. What I do know is it is hard to believe this rocker is 65, it reminds me that I am getting older!

 As an adult, I like to listen to old Stones here and there and have a few of their CD’s mainly their hits from the past. I also realize they helped revolutionize early rock and roll and tip my hat to this hit making group.

I don’t want to get too nostalgic with the Stones because Jagger once said in an interview, “The word nostalgia, that I assume comes from Greek, has an inferred meaning of longing for the past. The past is a great place and I don’t want to erase it or to regret it, but I don’t want to be its prisoner either.” However, it is the older Stones that caught and still catch my attention.

I will thank the Stones for the best therapeutic advice I can ever give to my clients though, “You can’t always get what you want!”

I was making a doctors appointment recently and the receptionist informed me that I had not seen my physician since 2008 and wanted to know if I was a new patient again. I had said no, it’s just I seem to get stuck with a nurse practitioner and not my doctor. She began to tell me I had to see the doctor if I did not want to be a “new patient.” I sort of chuckled and said, “Great, then make me an appointment for my family doctor please and not the nurse practitioner.” The receptionist said, “Yes good idea to get in and see your doctor. So shall I make you an appointment for the nurse practitioner?” This got me thinking…

 Once upon a time ago doctors were really doctors. Really I kid you not. Way back in the 50’s and 60’s there were no nurse practitioners taking the load off the doctors. In fact nurses where the ones that took your temp and blood pressure and asked most the questions so your doctor could spend quality time with you. I know it is hard to believe but I am speaking the truth.

 Today I call doctors docbots, meaning they are simply robots for the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. On the average a doctor spends about 7 minutes with each patient. They quickly look at your chart, give you a few minutes to state your case, and then they pull out their prescription pads. I am sure doctors suffer from carpel tunnel from writing out so many prescriptions.

 Back in the 50’s a doctor used to make house calls. That’s right; it wasn’t just something on TV, these caring souls believed in medicine and their patients. Those house calls by the way would run you about $7 but you would get a full exam and an injection if needed.

 For those who did not need house calls the average doctor’s visit ran about Office visits were $5 each and a lab culture was about $3. Something like a fluoroscope or a barium enema might cost $35 or $40, today that same procedure will cost thousands of dollars.

 Modern medicine has changed. I suppose that is why some hospitals can charge $1,000 for a toothbrush and $140 for a single Tylenol.  However, more people are surviving terminal illness, heart attacks and traumas. The truth is today people are given the opportunity to live longer— well if you have the money.

 I think that is the difference between medical care back then and medical care today. It isn’t about people as much as money. In the good old days, if you were sick, the doctor gave you an injection in your butt and you were sent on your way. How many of you remember getting those shots in your behind? Yes they stung, but they really worked well and you were feeling better by the next day.

 Today if you have a sore throat you can count on having lab tests which can cost up to $500 just to see if you have strep throat and then are given prescriptions for antibiotics that oftentimes require a “second round.”

 More doctors are leaving their professionals because they, like me, miss the personal touch they were once allowed to use in the good old days. They no longer want to be controlled by insurance companies. Many of them turn to research, teach or go into early retirement. I can’t say I blame them. I miss the personal care doctors once upon a time ago gave to their patients. I miss having to bend over and get a shot in my butt knowing I would feel better the next day. I miss being able to pay out of pocket for a simple visit. Even when I was in my 20’s and 30’s I could still pay the $45 bucks it cost to see the doctor. Today a co-pay is that much.

 Indeed, there used to be a time when doctors were doctors and not docbots. My hats off to the doctors who made house calls and gave people that personal care. My hat is off to those doctors who still offer that personal care and see us as people not a paycheck. I also tilt my hat to the assembly line doctors of today who make sure we live longer, of course at a cost, but gosh darn it, we live longer!

Yesterday I was feeding my bird Buddha a spaghetti noodle. She loves noodles. She likes to play with it and then go for the gusto and munch it down. I caught myself singing her a song that said boodle’s got a noodle. I had discovered that my bird has a new song that we could sing to her all the time called “Boodle Noodle” and in her mind it would become a number one hit, and this really got me thinking…

 There were some very strange song titles in the 50s and 60s which make my Buddle Noodle song actually sound good. I am unaware how some of our early rockers and poppers came up with these song tittles. Perhaps the early phases of smoking pot, who knows. I mean come on, there was Da Doo Ron Ron, which is not to be confused with Do Wah Diddy Diddy nor to be compared with Ooby Dooby which is a far cry from Alley-Oop but somehow these songs all have some sort of ring to them.

 Who Put the Bomp In the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp was about as fun as Papa Oom Mow Mow and Rama Lama Ding Dong . I am sure there was some real deep meaning to these songs, or maybe not. Maybe it was just fun and senseless. The 50s and 60s were filled with fun quirky song titles such as  Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day, Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop , Be-Bop-A-Lula and  Sh-Boom.

 I once played in a band that did the song Willie and the Hand Jive which sounded more like a young’s boys confessions of perhaps something he should be doing behind closed doors. However I suppose if Willie got caught doing the Hand Jive he would simply say, Yakety Yak Don’t Talk Back.

 I think perhaps what is important to remember with music and song titles are the beginnings of psychedelic drugs use. What else could possible make people see Purple People Eater’s doing the Monster Mash with Wooly Bully? This sort of Hanky Panky must stop!  Better still who would write a song called  Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini?

 Some of the songs and titles were actually out of this world. Take  the matian hop, Little Space Girl, and  The Flying Saucer. It was enough to have someone sing out They Are Coming to Take me Away.

 Some of these song titles were as awesome as the song itself. My favorite silly song title and perhaps favorite song of all is the Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. As a kid I thought they were saying, in the Garden of Eve Baby, but that made less sense than In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.

 The list can go on with the silly songs and song titles. I liked that once upon a time ago we could add a little humor with our music and it all didn’t have to be so serious. We didn’t have to deal with gangster rap and a zillion break up and love songs. I thought silly songs offered us something that we have so little of, laughter and joy.

 What are some of your more silly songs you liked?