Copacabana Memories

I remember the first time I heard Barry Manilow sing this song. I was a teenager. AM Radio was all we had and the little transistor radio that I painstakingly refilled with batteries got a lot of use. I would stay up late when I really was not supposed to. I’d sit under my covers with the radio where I could hear it and then with the earplugs when those came out.

FM Radio was like Satellite or HD radio now when it came out. No more scratchiness. No more crackling and popping in the background. This helps tremendously when making recordings. We did not have cd’s. We had tapes in a recorder that you had to push down several buttons and then stop it when you wanted to quit recording. It was quite an art form to get the entire song without any mistakes. I remember sitting there with fingers crossed that the DJ would shut up in time to record the entire song without any other influence but the song itself.

Last night in the car on my Sirius XM, Copacabana came on. Amazingly I remembered all the words. When it came on, I was right back under my covers listening to that small transistor radio on AM on the only station I could pick up out of San Antonio, Texas. I was in my own little world like I used to be when life was much simpler. You forget as you age how fun many things are or were. This reminded me to not forget that feeling of getting away with listening to my radio late at night. I am sure my parents knew, but I think that I was a good enough kid that they let me get away with this harmless thing. I love listening to these songs again and fondly remembering what it was like to be a teen. 

Comments and questions are welcome.  What songs or types of things cause you to remember a special time in your life?