Ride Your Pony Back to ’68

In the early days of 1968, I was a husky young farm boy. Spring was coming on an I was about to lift the ear flaps on my hat. My ears would get sunburned on those first sunny days. Once in a while I would get a play date the neighbor girl, Renee, across the line fence of our properties. She would bring her pony, Lickety Split. I was never much of a horseman. Once while taking a ride on Lickety, one of my Pro Keds fell off in the hayfield. My mom was so mad that I lost a good school shoe, but I found it the next Winter in front of the stanchions. It had been baled up and our Holsteins nudged it aside.

The old barn radio was always on. The cows and me loved the music and the connection to the outside world. The local sports teams seemed like pro athletes to me because their names were mentioned on the air. The songs that played on the the Magnavox in the early days of 1968 were simply magic to me and still are. The number one song this week was an instrumental called Love is Blue by Paul Mauriat. WRCO played that song all of the time. It was a prom theme for many. Kenny Rogers and the First Edition were scoring big with Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In).

The Big Lebowski movie brought the song to more generations! Other little/big Phil favorites include I Thank You-Sam and Dave, Bottle of Wine-Fireballs, Baby Now That I’ve Found You-Foundations, Nobody But Me-Human Beinz, Dance to the Music-Sly and the Family Stone, and The Mighty Quinn-Manfred Mann. We will be jamming to some of those tunes and all of your requests on Saturday night during Those Were the Days.

Now in our 40th year, I am very proud of the fact that we can still do this show and play what we want. We don’t just feature the same 2 songs by iconic artists. The playlist can jump all over the place and that is where you come in! Give me a call or text Saturday night between six and midnight on WRCO, WRCO.com, or listen through your Civic Media app. Those Were the Days, my friend.

Phil

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