Like most (many? all? some?) sibling pairs, Brother and I live in a weird little bubble of shared memories and inside jokes. We grew up on the local “oldies” station, back when “oldies” meant hits from the 1950s and 1960s, with the occasional early 70s classic thrown in for excellently-good measure, and a lot – I mean a lot – of this joint repetoire of pop culture references revolves around these, the songs of our childhood.
As such, we often (quite randomly) text each other the names of what we consider “lost oldies”: songs that seldom get airplay anymore but which conjure strong, very specific, memories. The title/artist is sometimes followed by the phrase “You’ll shit” which is a sort of vernacular meaning “the song title or artist might sound unfamiliar to you, but this is a song we often heard years ago and I was quite excited when I heard it again recently; I’m sure you’ll become quite excited as well.”*
The song doesn’t necessarily have to be from the 50s or 60s – he’s sent me some really good, shit-worthy songs from the 90s lately – but for this week I’m concentrating on “lost oldies” that I’ve very recently stumbled back upon, courtesy of the 50s and 60s satellite radio stations that my Dad likes to listen to in the car.
Maybe none of these will ring a bell for any of you, but I doubt it. Somewhere in the deep recesses of your brain, you’ve probably absorbed some of this music – perhaps passively or second-handedly – but I’m positive it’s there, lurking in one of those cute little brain folds, just waiting to be brought to the surface, Leonard-Lowe-style.
Please – enjoy.
*Er, or something like that.
the sloppy copy 
I’m sad that I only recognize one of these (“Draggin’ the Line”). My brother and I also grew up listening to KLOU. One memory that sticks in my head was when we were listening to the Mamas and the Papas “I Dig Rock and Roll Music”. My brother would always say, “I dig for lost treasure!” I wonder if he would remember that.
… searches YouTube for video …
Well holy shit, that song is sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary. Huh.
Here’s a link if you want to watch a live performance. Why is Mary convulsing?
We crap, I didn’t realize that was only the first minute. Here’s another one. Mary’s still convulsing. If I were Peter, I’d smack Mary around the 0:56 mark.
Oh my God, I meant to say “Well crap…”, not “We crap”. Sheesh, I need to go to bed.
Julie, how do I delete these after I write them so I don’t look like a jackass?
Mel, you don’t look like a jackass! In fact, you’re driving up my comment-count! 😉
I also admit that some of these songs didn’t really get that much KLOU airplay. Hence the lost-ness. There’s also a very good chance that I first heard them somewhere else, not on the radio…
Okay, when I leave a comment there is a “edit” link next to my name. If you click it, I think you can delete / modify it from there.