It's a Lovely Day Today

April 16 is National Record Day

When I was growing up, we had one of those RCA Victor record players that closed up like a little suitcase when not in use. On the inside of the lid was an emblem of an old fashioned Victrola with a dog looking into the speaker. The caption read, "He hears his master's voice." The idea was that the sound was that realistic (though it was not an advanced "high fidelity" and certainly not stereo). It would play the standard 78 rpm records, and with an adapter could handle 45's. I suppose it was my older brother who explained to me to dial to "78" for the "little hole records," and "45" for the big hole records. We had quite a variety of children's records, songs from musicals, as well as what had been radio hits in "my parent's day" Some that I remember were, "Shrimp Boats is-a Comin'," "Oh What Beautiful Morning," "When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob-bob-bobin' Along," "Westward Ho the Wagons," "Oh, Susanna," and "The Gandy Dancers Ball," to name a few.

With The Gandy Dancers Ball, we would often dance around the room and hop onto the bed. How could one help it with such a lively tune and words like "they danced on the ceiling and they danced on the wall" followed by "Swing around, swing around, swing around the Jimmy John, Swing the pretty girl around the Jimmy, Jimmy John." We thought the words were "swing around the jibby jop." We had no idea what a jibby jop might be, but we were kids, accustomed to not knowing the meaning of lots of words in use by adults and on TV. All we knew was that it was a fun song.

By the time we were in our "tweens and teens" there were the 45s with the Beach Boys, Ricky Nelson, Herman's Hermits, etc. Then The Beatles hit the Sullivan Show and started selling LPs like crazy. Whenever a few of us gathered at someone's house, a record player was usually utilized. How ever you spin it, records have had an impact on our lives for a long time.

Here is another old tune, recorded on a 78 and played on an old-fashioned record player. I heard this one often on television variety shows growing up. One of the standards from the Great american Songbook. "It's a Lovely Day Today," performed by Perry Como. Take a listen and celebrate National Record Day.

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