I often catch myself trying to find topics in Retroflections to write about. Fads, fashions, music, lingo, you name it I love walking down memory lane thinking what can we do this week. For some reason I struggled with this week’s topic. I kept thinking, and pondering. Then I saw a video on Lady Gaga and thought and it got me thinking…

Lady Gaga is not the first entertainer to be outrageous and more about theatrics. I mean there was Madonna, then Cher, there was always someone who made us turn our heads and go “what the heck was that?”

It  wasn’t always about women. I think one of the first people in rock and roll and or pop music to make us all turn our heads and say “what the heck is that” was Mr.”awop-bop-a-loo-mop-alop-bam-boom” himself, Little Richard. I recall one of the first times I saw him on TV I was not sure what to think. The man could sing like no other singer, and he could bang on that piano as if the instrument was part of him. He also had a flair for women’s clothing, bouffant hair andmake-up.

As a kid I would stare at him. What is this I would think; is he a man, a woman or a myth? After listening to him over and over, I didn’t care. This flamboyant singer was pure talent and as he self-proclaimed, the kind of rock and roll. Maybe he was the king. Maybe rock and roll had room for many kings. With hits such as “Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Rip It Up,” “Lucille,” “Jenny Jenny,” “Keep A Knockin’”, “Good Golly Miss Molly,” “Ooh! My Soul”…By 1968, Little Richard had sold over 32 million records internationally. That makes him a king!

Elvis may have had some pelvic action and he had a way with women, but Little Richard could bang on the piano and wail like no other singer of his time. So what if Richards was a homosexual, transvestite and voyeu. Who cares that he had an epiphany and says he had been gay but Jesus had saved him. I think it just adds to who he was.

Richards’s music I thought developed rock and roll. He was the architect of rock and roll. So I never understood that at the peak of his fame, he concluded that rock and roll was the Devil’s work. He just quit the business. I figured he had some sort of demons because he went to Bible college, and became a traveling Evangelical preacher. He stated he was gay, but Jesus saved him and he spent time helping young black men leave the gay lifestyle.

Thank goodness for the Beatles who started playing some of his songs. Little Richard felt inspired once again to do what he did best, and go back into entertainment. So with his fun hairdo, thin mustache and his rock and roll voice, he was back on the stage. Recently I saw a video of Little Richard performing in 2009 which placed him in his late 70s and this man had not changed at all. His voice was flawless, no cracks, no strain, he had the same energy as he did in the 50s. He still had his bouffant hairdo, plucked eyebrows, make up and thin mustache. Little Richard can still make people’s heads turn 50 years later. I don’t think there will ever be another flamboyant performer like him with such a long standing stance. Little Richard, no matter what sort of demons he had, shaped rock and roll to what it is today.

Though it is not official, since when is summer ever official in Arizona? I have lived here in Tucson all my life and I have seen summer start in early May. Here is what I know, kids are out of school, public pools are open, my electric bill is going up because I am running the air conditioner and it seems like it sure is summer to me. I was in line at the Dairy Queen the other night ready to get my small cone to cool off and while in the car I heard an old song about summer and it got me thinking…

 There are some great songs about summer from our past. I love some of these songs. I think if I had a favorite it would be Summer in the City by Lovin’ Spoonful, I love the beat, the piano, the lyrics, and the first lines describe that feeling of summer Hot town, summer in the city, Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty.

 Speaking of summer songs and great beats, Hot Fun in the Summertime by Sly & the Family Stone was a song that I loved to listen to this song. It was a lazy sounding song with a smooth beat. It was what I called the ultimate hammock summer song. Now this was the sort of song you listened to as it cools down at night, laying in your hammock, and yes I have a hammock, sipping on limeade and waiting for the moon to come up.

 Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran was a  song about rebellion. I loved this song so much I played in most the bands I played in. There is a twang and a truth to it.  Kids don’t want to work in the summer, I get they want to goof off, or in my last story, stare at people and text, still, you bet they want to make a fuss and want to make a holler about working all summer to earn a dollar.

 Of course what would summer be without the Beach Boys who made it summer all year long. Their songs did not have to be about summer and it felt summer. Come on with song names like Surfin’ Safari, All Summer Long, California Girls, Surfin’ USA, and Surf’s Up. How could we not think of summer?

 It doesn’t have to be summer for us to recall the song Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. It was a silly song and for some women it was a national anthem. Indeed it meant it was time to starve yourself so you could wear your bikini to the beach. What is summer without water and bikinis?  

 I simply cannot imagine summer without hearing Mungo Jerry In the Summertime. I mean really! This is the ultimate summer song and after you hear it, it invades your head like a virus and you can’t get rid of it. This was simply a happy song period. It was hard to be sad and sing this song. This is a classic summertime song that I still sing in the shower!

 Closer to my heart was Janis Joplin’s Summertime. This song gave me chills even when it was 110 degrees out. It to me was one of the best ways to cool down listening to her sultry voice singing about summertime. Finally a song with great lyrics It’s Summertime by Flaming Lips. I mean yeah we get it, it’s summertime summertime sum sum summertime and it was a great song to remind you that yes, it was summertime.

 I am sure I left out way too many summer songs but these were the ones that stuck in my mind even from early childhood. So what about you? What is your favorite summer song?

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I was driving to my midtown office the other day and there they were kids. Some were riding bikes, many looked to be texting each other from their phone while standing right next to one another, some were listening to music, while others were just standing around staring as you walked by them. I started to break a sweat, and I remembered I am sweating because it is hot, and I am hot because it is summer and that means, kids are out of school and it got me thinking…

Why are so many 17 and 18 year old kids out of school just standing around and staring at adults doing life? Shouldn’t these kids have a summer job? I mean yeah they can stand 5 feet from one another and text to each other back and forth because I am sure their lips or voice box is broken but their fingers and legs work just fine.

When I was a kid, I worked. That is what we did in the early 70s when summer came. We all found jobs in the summer. We had no need to text our friends standing right next to us, well we didn’t have the capability. But we used our brains because we wanted to explore the possibilities of doing something with our lives. Our parents taught us well. They taught us that if we wanted something, we had to work for it. We had to actually get up and move and find a job. Which meant we were allowed to have responsibility. Groovy!

I was thirteen when I got my first job. I was a babysitter Mon-Fri from 8:00am-4:00pm. I worked all summer long. I did not hang out and watch TV or listen to music or zone out. I worked so I could buy my own clothing, and records, or whatever else I wanted. I worked and I was proud.

I cannot say I loved work, but I did indeed like the money it gave me, and I liked the responsibility it taught me. I once worked Jack in the Box and a place called El Taco. I worked both of them. I think the pay was like 2.35, maybe less, I can’t recall but what I knew is that I had two jobs. I did not have to, but my parents taught us kids the ethics of work and want. They supplied us with the basic needs, and if we wanted more, we had to work for it.

I recall as a kid, I wanted to get a job at the big super slide that was located on Alvernoon, There was a fellow that worked there, I believe his name was Larry, and I kept telling him I wanted a job there, and he kept saying I had to be a little older. I think he admired that I wanted to work because he always gave me a hard push down the super slide so I could go faster.

I think that many of us in our 50s and 60s have something that is very precious, we were taught that working was a good thing. That it gave us the skills we need to be adults and make it in the world. I love my memories of my summer jobs. They are memories I hold near and dear to me. I like it when someone asks me what I did for my summer as a kid and I could tell them that in some way shape or form, I always had a job. You just don’t hear it as much these days. 

So what did you do in the summer as a kid?