Hi kids, let me ask you a question if I may. I wish to explore this in today's podcast. How vitally important in your life, in your soul, in your development, in your love, in everything that is you, the music have to do with it. I mean, seriously, some people are totally consumed by music.
I am one of those people. I am one of those people. Some people just listen to it on the radio and they have no idea. Not me.
I'm one of these people who just absolutely love the craft, absolutely love the songwriting, absolutely love the performance. We're going to talk about, we're going to talk about music today on a podcast where I'm not allowed to play any of the music that I want to talk about. So welcome to the Daily Grateful. I'm Michael Gross.
I'm a Backstreet Driver from America. I drive to the left on Falls Road. And the man at the wheels name is Sheamus. We passed a child on the corner that he knows.
And Sheamus says, you know, what kind of chance does this kid got? And I say from the back, I don't know. He said, there's barbed wire all over these exits. And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go.
Lyrics from, it's a hard life by Nancy Griffin. I don't know if she wrote this or not, but I will tell you that when I heard it, when it came out in the 80s, I think it was 1989. I was living in Tarpon Springs and I just sat on a blue chair that then Mrs. Gross, Diane had bought and it was in our living room.
And I was listening to this on the stereo. And I was just absolutely and totally amazed, absolutely and totally amazed by it. And then I started listening. I immediately went out and I immediately went out and I bought the album.
And goodness gracious, all of her music was that way. It is just one of those things and I love it so much. I was affected very much by the Beatles, as you know. You see, I am a child of the 60s.
Let's go back to some Nancy Griffith music here right now and go into some of the lyrics. If I can find what I'm looking for. I was a child of the 60s where dreams could be held on TV. That was me.
That was me. We had Disney and Cronkite and Martin Luther. And oh, I believed, I believed and I believed. Now I'm a backstreet driver from America.
And I'm not at the wheel of control. I am guilty. I am war. I am the root of all evil.
And Lord, I can't drive on the left side of the road. It's a hard life. Wherever you go. Yeah.
I am a child of the 60s and I grew up listening to the birds. I grew up listening to Bob Dylan. It wasn't cool to listen to Bob Dylan because the lyrics were just I had never heard lyrics like Bob Dylan lyrics when he came out. And I bought the album Highway 61.
Highway 61 readers. Oh my goodness. Just incredible. And I went to my very first concert that I went to.
I think I've shared this with you before. Was in 1958 at Kellogg Auditorium in Battle Creek, Michigan, where I was, my sister was forced to take me. She and her girlfriend wanted to go see Jerry Lewis and my dad said, you're not going unless you bring your brother with you because she knew that my father knew or he suspected that they wouldn't go out and do bad stuff if I was there. The little brother.
I'm the little brother. At that time in my life, I was playing with, you know, toy soldiers and toy firemen and cars and things like that. And then I went to that and saw Jerry Lewis sing Great Balls of Fire. I said, oh my God.
My life totally changed from that moment on from that very moment on. I would go to the record shop that my sister went to in Battle Creek, Michigan. And in those days, they had all the 45s, right? And 45s, I think were 60 cents or 50 cents.
I forget what they were. But you could listen to them first and they had all of these little booths and you could go and add one headphone. You could stick up to your ear and you could put a 45 down and put the needle on it and listen to it and see if you liked it. And I knew and hopefully that you would buy it.
And at the time, I had an allowance and plus I would do other things to earn money. I would take bottles back to the store, remember that. And I would go down to that record store and I would find music that I just absolutely loved. I would listen to it and then I'd listen to it all the way through to make sure there were no scratches on it.
And then I would buy the music. So I was born in 1951, but in the 60s is when I was really, really into music in a big way. As a matter of fact, when I got my very first job working for Elmo Jolini, cleaning up construction sites, when I was in junior high school for crying out loud, I would take my paycheck every week and the first thing I would do is I would go to the Sounds Music Records job and I would buy one record album a week, one record album a week. And I did that and I have to tell you, it totally changed my life.
What has music done for you? Do you have a soundtrack to your life? I certainly have one to mine. I have a soundtrack and I don't think I'm going to share it all with you, but there's a diversity of music that I love.
I love classical music. I love rock and roll. Yeah, that's obvious. But I love classical music.
I love folk music. I remember going to a Peter Paul and Mary concert and just was absolutely stunned at the harmonies. That was just something that was unbelievable. I had a lot of cool experiences.
My first wife and I got invited to the Bellevue Build More Hotel. It's a spending afternoon with Bob Dylan, why he, they videotaped a special for NBC that never aired. You can find it on YouTube, but the quality's not good. Joan Baez was there.
Roger Mcguin was there. There was a bunch of people. And I have to tell you, it was just an experience that I will never, ever forget. I remember every little aspect of it.
I was talking about the Beach Boys, going to see the Beach Boys with my buddy John Claridge and in 1965 and watching them at the Bayfront Center Arena. And John remembers the concert. He remembers us going there. It was the Beach Boys and the opening act was 11 spoonful.
And he remembers us being there, but he doesn't remember how we got there. And he doesn't remember a lot of the aspects of the concert. I remember every aspect of that concert. And as a matter of fact, when I go to concerts and I hear music that I haven't heard before, an excellent example was I went to a Frank's Apocancer in Tampa, Curtis Dixon Hall.
I had never seen Frank's Apoc before. And I only heard it one time. And I remembered the lyrics for the whole song, moving to Montana soon, going to be a dental flossed tycoon. It all came down.
And then the other one was the television set. I am old and perverted. I'm obsessed and arranged. I've existed for years, but very little has changed.
I'm a tool of the government and industry too. You know, one of the zappas are going to sue me for copyright infringement. I can just tell an industry too. But I am destined to rule and regulate you.
You may think I'm delicious with the things that I say. And I'm going to stop because they will sue. The zappas state is very big on that. They love their copyrights.
But it was don't turn me in, please. But music is just something that has always been just the coolest thing. What about you? Do you have a soundtrack to your life?
You have music? Do you have that one song that sticks with you that is so meaningful that tells you about a relationship that you had? Do you have one song that tells about your belief system? Yeah.
I was at the Miami-Pophissel in 1968. And I saw Jesse Collin Young when he was with his original band. And they sang a song called Get Together. Yeah, it's there.
It's there. We'll see you tomorrow.