Category: Memories

Cindy Niehaus

Guttenberg, IA

I’ve come up with a better 70’s music story. (The first one about the Oak Ridge Boys was related while she was on duty at the stewardship table at St John’s)

The state fair concert with my friends in Monona was actually in the 80’s and I’m pretty sure it was Alabama instead of Oak Ridge Boys. I am sure it was state fair though!

The summer of 1972 I worked at the YMCA of the Rockies. Along with our job we could choose two events to attend. One I chose was a Carpenter’s concert under the stars at the Red Rocks theater. The camp took us there via bus. I attended with coworkers. The hit song then was I’m On The Top of The World. I looked it up yesterday and enjoyed singing along! I know I had at least one Carpenter’s album.

Top of the World

Diane Thiese

Guttenberg, IA

We were in the car going out to eat with my parents in Decorah. I remember so well because we didn’t do that often.

This song had been written and performed much earlier than when I fell in love with it. I’m sure it was the rendition of Johnny Cash that we heard on the radio driving to Nob Hill Supper Club with my parents. It would have been in the late spring of 1975 and Myron’s Mom took care of Kaia when we went to eat. The car would have been a forest green Chrysler with beige leather seats. I learned to drive in that car and maybe that is why this song touched me. My step-father was always generous and fair when it came to driving incidents. I prefer the Peter, Paul, and Mary version. Myron and I did and still do listen to artists like Simon and Garfunkel, Chad and Jeremy, etc. My first album was The Supremes and I remember my parents listening to Charlie Pride so the lyrics of this song felt very natural. Singing verbally has not been a gift of mine but I like to think when a song naturally resonates in your heart it sings on its own. My Grandmother also believed everyone needed to be respected and loved. Always a listener for what was right and had the respect of all social classes. Many times working for favorable resolutions for all parties.

If I Had a Hammer

Ann Houghtaling

Duluth, MN

 

Joy to the World brings me back to my first year at the U of M Duluth (just UMD to us).

Peggy and I were both students there, also best friends since 4th grade.

We did love driving in her dad’s green Mustang while listening to/singing to the radio.

I don’t think my dad ever had a cool car.

Peggy’s younger sister spilled milk in that car (like the Seinfeld episode) which led to the Mustang’s inevitable sale.

Joy to the World

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dana Lammers Rewoldt

Huxley, IA

For me it was Jackson Browne, the song was Cocaine.

It was 1978, we were in the blue Nova. Mike was driving and Melinda was in the passenger seat.

We were doing loops on a Sunday around Sioux Center.

We were out of church for the fourth time that week.

Catechism was on Thursday.

Church twice on the weekend. Youth group was in there too.

I think it was on an 8-track.

We were all singing along. and we had Coke, Dr Pepper, and Doritos.

Cocaine

Becky Mather

The Village’s, FL

Oh, songs, I remember first it was Herman’s Hermits.

I am Henry the eighth I am, Henry the eighth I am I am.

But also then, Stairway to Heaven.

In my early 20s we would be down at the Poison Apple in Silvis.

I was a concert chick. The Allman Brothers, they are still a favorite. Their piano sound is just tremendous.

Especially Jessica.

Heard it first in high school. But later at the U. of Iowa with Drew and Jimmy. We would be out, bars there had a 3 am license.

But honestly, to tell you the truth,Eric Clapton’s Layla is the best song ever recorded.

Layla

Sheila Kramer Tjaden

Monticello, IA

I grew up second to the youngest of 12 Kramer kids so my older siblings played 70s tunes a lot, like over and over. They were the soundtrack to my youngest years.

It was Kiss, Meatloaf, Cheap Trick, The Eagles, and Bridge Over Troubled Water.

They would play music on Saturdays while we were all cleaning. It made it fun.

One summer my older brother took my sister and I out for the whole day of adventure. First to the pool and then for ice cream. I remember singing Cecelia over and over. The easy lyrics, the dance beat. So easy to love that song. Everytime I hear it I remember our magic summer day out.

Only later did I realize the meaning.

Mom would not have approved.

Cecilia

Faye Finnegan

Dubuque, IA

At Loras I belonged to the Sigma Delta sorority.

We wore blue coats and our 70s theme song was a version of The Beach Boys’ California Girls.

We would get in a circle at chapter functions and sing “Wish they all could be Sigma Delta girls.”

The Midwest farmer’s daughter was me.

My friends are close and we still gather. The tradition continues at weddings, any time there is music involved.

Our circle is strong.

California Girls

Donna Loewen

Dubuque, IA

The songs of Bread painted Donna Loewen’s growing up. She was preparing for her senior Homecoming in the fall of 1972 at Dubuque Hempstead. She was nominated for queen and had purchased a purple gown at Seiferts. It was a classic number, one that she still has today, having used it for a costume during her days as a classroom teacher. She admired a senior named Greg and a mutual friend nudged Greg into escorting Donna to the dance where she was crowned queen. Their coming together included one kiss but it was just for that night.

The songs by Bread, Baby I’m a Want You, Everything I Own, all take her back to that time of unreturned affection.

Later during a summer visit home, Greg called Donna to come over for a barbecue. She arrived to meet his new girlfriend. She was happy for him.

Much later in mid-life, he contacted her to meet, only to reveal he was gravely ill from cancer and passed away just weeks after. He asked for a kiss at that meeting.

Donna also remembers Helen Reddy and the songs that defined the decade of women’s liberation and she can sing it yet today.

I am Woman

Susi Brent

Rock Island, IL

Oh, there are so many, but Stairway to Heaven is one near the top.  I was in my early ’20’s and we were at the Poison Apple in downtown Silvis.  Yes, it was kind of a disco joint, but they played it.  This bar had a 3 am license, so it was a late night hangout.

I had every one of their albums and saw them in concert in Chicago with Peggy and Jeanie.  I remember it was indoors.

I loved the Allman Brothers too, I have all my life.  Jessica is a favorite.  That piano is just tremendous.  I heard it first in high school and saw them in concert in Iowa City with Drew and Jimmy.

And then, Eric Clapton and his band Derek and the Dominos with Layla.  It may be the best song ever recorded.

Layla

 

 

Jane Ertl Root

Guttenberg, IA

We were Abel Island girls driving around in a Chevy van chasing Guttenberg guys! Silly Love Songs was always on the radio that summer. The guys sang too. Denny, Jimmy, Mark, and Greg Schneider (more of an island guy), they all knew the words. Whenever I hear it today I’m a teenager back in the passenger seat of that blue & white van, driving the streets of Guttenberg.

Silly Love Songs