70s Tunes Take Us Back

  • Ringo Starr takes me back

    Denise Kuethe Strudthoff

    Stoddard, WI

    Dad bought a Beatles album from the drug store. Yep the drug store in Tripoli sold them.

    I had a record player in my room. I played albums but had the adapter for ’45s too.

    It was the Beatles one with the brown background, and they were dressed up and all had short hair.

    When I turned 16, my friends threw a surprise party. Gary Bergman gave me a ride to Cathy Weidler’s house where the gang was waiting and Ringo Starr was on the radio singing. I loved that song Photograph so much but he was singing “She’s 16, she’s beautiful and she’s mine.”

    I remember thinking he was singing it to me.

    And I loved the Stones.

    Like Tumbling Dice, I can hear it playing. I was in Big B, my parents’ car, driving to my guitar lesson in Waterloo.

    I played that guitar for weddings and at church until I heard the Wedding Song so many times that it made me sick. I sold my guitar to John Poock so I had an excuse to say no. It was a damn sexist song. I hate it to this day.

    Photograph

  • Rod McKuen takes me back

    Jane Siebrecht.JPG

    Jane Siebrecht

    Garnavillo IA

    I was a student at UNI in the early 70’s.  The sound that takes me back, right there, was Rod McKuen. You know – he was a poet.  He did these amazing lyrics to the sounds of the sea.  I was introduced to McKuen by a friend named Bob. He had been to Viet Nam and worked in media operations there.  He had these large reel to reel tapes and we listened to them.

    Seasons in the Sun

  • Frankie Valli takes me back

    Julie Metcalf Cull

    Bloomington, WI

    It was Frankie Valli, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.  I was with Jim in his Super B.  It was a Dodge Charger with this amazing trim that made it look like a bumble bee.  We listened to the whole 8-track over and over.  We rode around and sang.  Sal went along too. Some day I’ll tell you the whole story.

    Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You

  • Brick House takes me back

    Maureen Hofrenning

    Wichita

    It was Brick House, by the Commodores.  We were upstairs, at the Rube, just down the hill from St. Olaf.  It was Dan, Janet, J.J. and I.  We were drinking beer.  Ya, it was beer.

    Brick House

  • Jackson Five takes me back

     

    Linda Buenger Brennan

    Frederika, IA

    We were on a Luther League hayride.  I must have been a freshman or sophomore in high school.  I can remember sitting there on hay bales on the wagon.  We were listening to I’ll Be There.

    I’ll be There

  • Girls of the 70s recall songs burned into the memory of growing up

    Girls born between 1948 and 1966 experienced junior high, high school and/or college years with the soundtrack of the ‘70s.

    This is the songbook of their growing up.

    Where were you?

    Who were you with?

    What were you eating?

    What did it smell like?

    Which band?

    What were the words you will never forget? 

    What were you wearing?

    How did you feel?

     

    Sing it for me.

     

  • Thanks for sharing our songs

    Come back here when you want to feel young.