SEALS & CROFTS "Diamond Girl"

It's amazing how much you learn about yourself by listening to music you've owned since you were 5. It's also fascinating that people can keep these little possessions in their lives for so long without really cherishing them, looking at them, taking them out and doing whatever it is you're supposed to do with them. I only wish I still had some of the things I've cherished over the years cause it's also hard to keep things in one place and in one piece (for me). Girls are good, I think, at keeping jewelry, that makes sense to me. Boys, not so much, maybe baseball cards, or albums? Is that too 1950s of me? Still, we keep these items, and, why do we keep moving them from place to place with us? Are they worth something? Who knows?

This is the first album I truly consider owning. I stole it from my cousin Guy when I was 5 (he's not mad). I wrote my first name on the left lampshade and my last name on the right lamp shade. You can't see it, I stole that image from the interweb. I had some 45s before that, but this was a big piece of art that I could look at all day. I remember being fascinated by the inside cover. It's a picture of Seals and Crofts with their wives, holding babies. Seals' wife was black. I don't know why I was so enamored, but it's amazing to think of how I grew up and how I've applied certain ways of thinking about love, respect, and consideration, because, maybe, of the photo on the inside of this album. They all looked so in love and happy and I'm glad I thought that was completely normal. I'm rambling...

Oh, this album also puts me squarely (no pun intended cause one's coming up) in Culpeper, Virginia, summer of 1974. We'd driven down from NJ in our yellow VW Squareback (I told you) to visit my Aunt Cecelia. I got chicken pox and her next door neighbor, Bunny, made me Rice Krispie treats. I fell in love with the sound of this record from the second the needle hit the groove. This and the Godspell soundtrack. Dudes, I was 5, cut me some slack. The intro to "Diamond Girl" sounded so unique to me. Amazing it still holds up. I'm so glad this is the way we remember things.

"Summer Breeze" is on this album. Yeah, it was the big hit, you've heard it. But I liked the whole album, too, which could be why I like to investigate full albums still. I've delivered the title track and the gorgeous "We May Never Pass This Way Again". Oh, Seals' brother is England Dan of John Ford Coley fame, wanted to mention that.

So what have I learned about myself today? My cousin Guy had great taste in music (I didn't mention I'd "borrowed" his copy of Kraftwerk's Autobahn, too). Interracial marriage is beautiful (as a more broad political statement, and no, I don't have jungle fever). Beards are cool. I like pussy 70s soft rock. Rice Krispie treats are still good. Listening to full albums as opposed to getting the greatest hits is a wise move. So, now I know why I keep these LPs. I can remember, I can learn about myself, to see how things early on have influenced me now. Is that weird?

DIAMOND GIRL
WE MAY NEVER PASS THIS WAY AGAIN