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Talking with my husband: a true story

"If I get the new Gwen Stefani album," said my husband, drooling only a little, to his credit, "I get unlimited CDs for $1.99." He waved his music club catalog.

"Bueno," I said, not looking up from my muffin.

"But I have to choose..." he said, a little perplexed.

"I want the newest Diana Krall," I announced, "And maybe something else, I don't know," I said, making a grab for the catalog.

"Uh uh uh," he evaded me, "I'm not giving up custody of this yet...have you heard any of this Amy Winehouse?"

"I've heard of her, R&B, more my thing than yours," I told him.

"You can't say that; I don't dislike any genre, just sometimes a lot of the artists in it," he protested.

"Name me one R&B artist you like," I challenged.

"Give me a second...okay Sade. I bet I can get a list of more if you give me a minute."

I took advantage of his distraction to snatch the catalog.

"Robin Thicke...wasn't that an 80s actor, from that show about the family...?"

"What?" asked my husband, who apparently never watched television (excepting sports) before 1991.

"Oh, wait no that was Alan Thicke. With or without an e, I can't recall," I said, a little absently, thinking.

"That's be a first, Queen of Trivial Pursuit."

"Who is this guy, he's ringing a bell, Robin Thicke, hmmm...wait wasn't he that completely horrible skinny guy in the pencil suit who came onto some show, maybe the dance one or Idol and just made us wish we had lots of wax in our ears or something...?"

My husband shuddered and looked at the prominent photo, "Oh yeah him...yuck."

I flipped back over to Amy Winehouse, "Come on, let's go search YouTube."

We listened to several tunes, growing to like it more and more.

"She's like a David Bowie in his Absolute Beginner's phase," I said, delightedly.

"God, that was a horrible movie," my husband said.

"I know, I never got why the theater and film majors loved it so well...when was that?"

"'86?"

"I guess. You know, this one is so Diana Ross, so Supremes. I bet she says those are artists that influenced her."

"Diana Ross?" my husband said, disgust lacing his voice and decorating his face.

"Look, you know I'm a Motown and R&B fan...I want that Motown Gold album by the way, Stevie Wonder, mmmm," I said.

"Stevie Wonder, now there's another musician with a terrible voice."

"I must just like that style," I told him, "Maybe I'm a bigger fan of musicians than singers. Like Janis Joplin."

"That's what I'm talking about!" he said, "That's like Amy Winehouse, not the greatest voice ever, but digging deep, reaching some emotion or something."

We clicked on one last song, F*#k Me Pumps.

"She's got attitude, for sure," I said.

"Yeah."

We were silent for a minute listening.

"You know what? Her music. I swear she lifts pieces of old songs, their chorus or something," I said, "It's so familiar. I know this riff. It'll come to me, what it's from."

My brain struggled through cold-induced thickness and lack of coffee sluggishness.

"HA!" I cried triumphantly a minute later, "I've got it! La Boum, French, 1982."

"You totally just made that up, pulled it out of your ass."

"No, honest to god, it's a real movie, I saw it in France, it's famous!"

I clicked open a new tab, "Look, see, oh, whoops, okay one came out in 1980, two came out in 1982, my bad, but geez, not bad!"

I felt a little older suddenly. 1980. Wow. That trip to France was 1980? I thought back to my Kristy MacNichol hairdo with wings, yeah must have been 1980. I bought Anais Anais perfume in Paris, before it was hot in the US, where the name was always mispronounced. Oh wow, was I wearing hang Ten clothes then? I was. Matching Hang Ten outfits. Wait, wait, more mortified memories flooding in...yes, I had that embarrassing crush on that boy from Alaska that summer in France. I could have sworn that was 1982. Hmm, maybe it was. Who knows, it's all so long ago. Let me go get my walker.

"I watched it in French," I added, "I don't know if there is an English version. I thought it was an awesome movie at the time."

"If you can prove any of this I will be totally impressed," my husband said, somewhere between potential awe and dubiousness.

I searched YouTube, but could only find Richard Sanderson's Reality/Go On Forever, which wasn't quite the song I meant. I wanted the instrumental tune, which may have been based on this song, but I wasn't convinced.

So I had no proof. But I think he believes me in a little tiny corner of his mind.

But I do have proof of my poor musical taste 27 years ago:



While we're doing slightly obscure really old music, let me throw out a few more...

This may slightly redeem my musical taste from the 80s. In 1985 The Waterboys put out the angsty ballad The Whole of the Moon:



A decade earlier, I was doing a jazz number to King Harvest's Dancing in the Moonlight, which I still like to this day (and I think I still recall a smidgen of that routine):



This is not so obscure, but my it's old and scratchy. It's the very first song I ever loved (and still do): Astrud Gilberto and Joao Gilberto singing Antonio Carlos Jobim's song The Girl from Ipanema. My dad claims from earliest infancy I'd freeze to listen and then began swaying every time this song came on.



Love those Gilbertos...Joao, Astrud, or (more modern) Bebel Gilberto.

Copyright 2007 Julie Pippert
Also blogging at:
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Comments

thailandchani said…
I'm a real sucker for those "gt 5000 CDs for 2 cents" deals. Every six months, they refresh their systems.

Um. Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned that.

Anyway, if you're going to choose some, don't forget India Arie's latest.

And the Diana Krall, definitely. I have it. It's wonderful!

The rest of the things you mentioned... I don't recall most of them but my musical tastes are quite odd. I still listen to Barbra Streisand.

Oh .. and Amy Winehouse? I've heard a few videos. I don't like the look.. and especially don't like the attitude.

Yuck. :)


Peace,

~Chani
http://thailandgal.blogspot.com
Liv said…
You guys crack me up. I haven't seen one of those music catalogues in ages... I think it was back before I swore off the environmental waste of CDs, their paper and plastic jewel cases... a girl has to start somewhere right?
S said…
ANAIS ANAIS perfume! I haven't thought of that in, well, twenty-seven years! But I ADORED it. And I was in France in 1982.

This brought me back in the loveliest way.

Here's one for you: do you remember Flock of Seagulls? That was one of my first LPs, the first being Bruce Springsteen's The River.
painted maypole said…
Amy winehouse was all over the papers when we were in England.

Love Diana Krall, too!
flutter said…
Bebel Gilberto is one of my favorites. Love the jobim clan. Have you listened to Jane Monheit? I thnk you'd like her
Bea said…
I still gasp whenever I hear the opening bars of "The Whole of the Moon." (The association with my fourteen-year-old crush - that is, the seventeen-year-old I adored when I was fourteen - is a hard thing to break.)
Anonymous said…
What's WRONG with me?! I haven't heard of any of these folks!!!
Girlplustwo said…
you make me laugh...and i haven't bought new music in forever.

something is definitely wrong with me.
Julie Pippert said…
Chani, you and my husband both! The Diana Krall album is a must.

Liv, I agree but...without an alternative, a girls' gotta have her music. :)

SM, oh my gosh! We're going to start comparing stories and find out we traveled with the same group of people to the same places aren't we? Were you in Monaco later in the 80s? And San Francisco? Oh the stories I have from those two places!

PM, I recall some salacious Winehouse stories...is that right? I can't wait to own this Diana Krall album.

Flutter, me too! Bossa Nova love it! Jobim...I have every collaboration of his stuff made, I think LOL, even the Frank Sinatra one. I just went and checked out Jane Monheit on your rec...she's gorgeous. I had not heard of her, thanks!

B&P, yeah LOL, that's what that song (and so many from the 80s) are me: movie soundtrack of my youth. A boy gave me that Waterboys song in a compilation mix tape. ;)

Emily...you have not heard of ANY of these artists? Not Gwen Stefani? Diana Krall? Amy Winehouse (and you in London!) Joao Gilberto? The Waterboys? Oh honey...a whole new wonderful world of music opened up for you just now!

Jen...I don't buy music often; I get kind of stuck in my same old and find a lot of new crap just that: crap. But, I often like soundtracks (prefer mixes, and can take a lot of modern artists for one song) and every now and again it's a great year (like last year) with lots of great new artists. And anyway, buying Diana Krall isn't exactly NEW...it's kind of my same old thing, reprised LOL.
Kyla said…
Okay, you and SM were in France before I was ever born. But we can still be friends. ;)

I love Amy Winehouse, and so does KayTar. We drive around belting it out...granted, KayTar thinks Rehab is pronounced "Fee-haff", but still she knows a good tune when she hears it.
Amie Adams said…
My iPod is filled with so many different genres of music. But a music catalogue? I thought all of those companies went out of business. Between the five times I got the 12 free CDs under random accounts in my pet's names and iTunes...

You guys are funny.
Christine said…
now i gotta go listen to some amy winehouse.


and dude--that first french video--SO 80s!!!!!
Julie Pippert said…
Kyla, I wasn't just in France before you were born I was crushing on boys is how old I was LOL. I probably totaled my 1974 260 Z before you were born, too LOL. But yes goodness gracious we can still be friends. :) And I won't even mock or envy your youth. :)

Mamma, if it hasn't been clear before, LOL, allow me to assure you I am a total Luddite stuck in the 80s (at best). I think cell phones are annoying and new fangled technology needs to be at least a decade old before I even think about getting it on an emergency need only basis LOL. I use a paper calendar, have a prepaid cell phone in the car and other than a computer, that's the extent of my 21st century modernity.

Oh yeah I still use a DIAL on my A/C and if I could? I'd have all dial appliances. Getting new appliances was the WORST decision ever. Computer panels SUCK.
Anonymous said…
Ahahaha...I had these Hang Ten striped half shirts (remember those? egads!) with matching color-coordinated shorts. I thought I was some seriously hot sh*t!
Lawyer Mama said…
OK, Kyla just made me feel really damn old. But thanks for the walk down memory lane!
Christine said…
ok--just went and listened to some amy winehouse and she's amazing!
Ain't YouTube simply the greatest thing the internet has ever produced? Ok, maybe not the greatest - but it sure is fun to be able to find all your old favorite clips. I've been finding old TV shows, cartoons and music videos just like these too. Now, if I could just find my life instead of sitting here doing that all day. Oh well, balance my friend... balance.
Anonymous said…
Girl, did I miss this week's Hump Day topic? If not, may I suggest one?
Julie Pippert said…
Emily, you did not. I got consumed by life so please, suggest away!
Anonymous said…
In 1980 I was really into the music of Alvin and the Chipmunks. But I was 6 so I get a pass, right?

PS. You're the only person I've ever known who knows Bebel Gilberto. Marry me.
Emily said…
Amy Winehouse is great (trying not to confuse talent with greatness...ie Lindsay Lohan might be a great actress, but not someone I want my daughters to look up to.) Diana Krahl-great. Gwen Steffani-my 18 month old sings "Sweet Escape".
But that La Boum video and Water Boys (?) Oh, I am so glad I was too young to be making those kinds of mistakes in the 80's. :)
Anonymous said…
The fact that I can never make up my mind is one reason why I never join those cd clubs. I'm hopeless.
Mocha said…
Love the banter between the two of you. Sounds a little familiar.

Well, you can read what I've been listening to as I morphed a meme on the Old School music I've been enjoying from a post last week.

Or not.

I wouldn't want you to ignore me while enjoying your muffin. ;-)
Mad said…
I love this glimpse into the Ravin' marriage. BTW, I am a huge Waterboys fan--or was for an intense period back in the late 80s/early 90s.

Oh and Alan Thicke is Canadian. Hails from a place not too far from where Beck hangs her hat.
Bon said…
okay. after like, ten other people telling me i needed to try out Amy Winehouse, you got me.

David Bowie in his Absolute Beginners phase, huh? in any phase, you got me.

wanna come over and listen to my records, oh new girlie crush o' mine?
Julie Pippert said…
I'm hardpressed between flirting with Bon over her records or marrying Jenny. ;)

See wordgirl? I can't make up my mind sometiems either, LOL.

Izzy, I was so sure I was (as we said back then) hot sh*t on a silver platter (translation for young people: "all that") with my Hang Ten outfits LOL!

LM, I hear ya babe. I had an old flash already as I wrote that. Geezush TWENTY SEVEN YEARS AGO.

Bon, hope you like Amy Winehouse as much as Christine and Emily (or not, either way, lots o' good music out there) LOL.

Emily, dude, seriously. Watch that "too young" and dissing of the Waterboys talk 'round these here parts. ;)

Mocha, I'd never ignore you over a muffin. Except, I have sort of been ignoring blogs since Friday. I don't know what came over me. I will hop over later today while waiting on a plumber and read your list. :)

Mad, see, this is how I KNOW you are too cool for school. Intense Waterboys fan. Next you'll say you liked Aztec Camera and then I'll know I have to emigrate.

Jeff, YouTube is really too awesome. The whole Internet is. I'm such an instant gratification person and everything I want right here right away? All the joy. :)
Julie Pippert said…
P.S. Bon, Bowie fan? Oh ME TOO!

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