Continuing on from the introduction, I must repeat one thing. There was no television in South Africa at that time, and for you youngsters picture a life with no digital world. No gaming, no computers of any description and definitely no world wide web. But most kids or at the least families had one of these
Image credit – www.magnumboot.com
And we entertained ourselves without parents… we just had to be home for bath time and dinner. That however is for another day, so back to the music! The Beatles were busy revolutionizing music on the club scenes in the UK, and Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones were trying to emulate them
The Beatles – original sound 1965, and how about The Rolling Stones at that same time. Boy, were we enamoured with the music….. our parents however were unimpressed… calling it noise, and screeching, and immoral {smile}
Give them a listen!!
A very valuable asset fell into one of the children in the neighborhoods hands…. a transistor radio.
Image Credit www.antiquetrader.com
The challenge was… the battery section was damaged. One of my older brothers did a hack job and fitted it so we could attach a 9V battery which gave us a lot of listening time. The problem was these batteries were expensive … so 7 or 8 kids had to club together to buy a battery. That little radio lasted us years, and did we get some serious mileage out of it !!
Image Credit www.jarmstronginsurance.com
Every Sunday evening was the LM radio Hit Parade, the Top 20. In the school holidays we were allowed to stay up late so all the kids would lie on the ground with their heads surrounding the transistor radio, forming a wagon wheel. We would lay there looking at the dark sky and the stars; arguing about the merits of every tune and guessing which ones were going up or down in the charts.
Can you imagine a more innocent time in one’s life?
For that small time we did not have a care in the world.
The bands that really inspired me and kept me smiling no matter the empty stomach, three kids in a bed at night and only hand me down clothes…. And the odd hand me down shoes with holes in!
Jim Morrison and The Doors...... larger than life with lyrics that kept me hanging on every word…
Album art was part of the adventure of the music… below some from my vinyl collection
Janis Joplin was my dream woman, just the voice on the radio which painted wild days, rebellion. A teenage boys wet dream…. Her and Joan Baez kept me company on many a long night …that too is another story…. But later !!
And the absolute opposite sounds of Joan Baez, protest singer, no cause too big, jail and all…listen to the lyrics.
I was soooo in love with her … all 15 years of me {smile}
Right enough for now ... I could fill Steemit with those memories... next we will move onto living in the south in the 60's... thanks for staying with me.