80 years until Spring 1964

Every day from now until Spring, I will play a song from each year from 1940-2020. I’ll also write a little bit about the song and why I chose it to represent that year.

Even though my parents actually got married in 1962, the song “You never can tell” by Chuck Berry reminds me of them. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to have gotten married just four months after graduating high school. They had a lot of strikes against them. They both were so young, they both came from challenging upbringings. They had some tough financial periods and within a year I would be born and another year and a half my brother would be born. Many couples don’t make it or stay married but settle into a numbing malaise for the rest of their lives.

But my parents not only survived but thrived for the last 57 years. While my brother and I sometimes have our differences with them, we both agree their bond s a couple is solid. They rarely fought when I was growing up (but they had a couple doozies) Mostly though they kept any conflicts they were having out of my brother and I’s sightline. I never once heard them ever say a mean-spirited word about the other. My Dad has always treated my Mother respectfully. Just one of the many ways I am grateful to have him as a role model.

Here’s a little fun fact about the song “You never can tell”. The first time I ever heard the song it was in Hungarian. Back in the late ’80s, I was housesitting for a Hungarian woman who was away for the summer. I spent about six weeks in Budapest, Hungary and would often hang out at a club down the way called “The Metro”. It was built in an abandoned subway station. Cool Place. Well, they had a house band called “The Old Boys” who played most music from the 1960s. They sang in Hungarian of course, but most of the songs I already knew from the melody.   ( “A whiter shade of pale” is especially trippy in Hungarian) They also played “You never can tell” I didn’t know the song but memorized the tune.

Fast Forward to 1994 and the movie “Pulp Fiction” which featured an iconic dance sequence between Uma Thurman and John Travolta featuring “You never can tell”. I liked the music so much I bought the soundtrack. After hearing the English version repeatedly I began to think this song kind of described my parents. You really never can tell. They beat the odds and found a way to have a successful marriage. Bravo Mom and Dad!!