Jenyfer Matthews

I’ve been thinking about music on and off ever since we moved to Egypt – or rather, the lack of it in my life. When I’m writing, I have to have silence, so most of my musical experience was from listening to the radio in the car. Thing is, we don’t have a car anymore.

I’ve mentioned it before, but the radio here in Cairo for western music is really not worth listening to. I have a few CDs I listen to (over and over and over again) while I’m quilting, but that’s usually while the kids are in school. And since my own musical tastes run to rock, alternative, and grunge, once again many of the lyrics are not necessarily child-friendly.

I’m beginning to worry that I’m stunting my children’s growth in popular culture. Thinking back to my own childhood, I can always remember music and even now hearing certain songs will transport me back in time. I can remember sitting in the back of my parent’s giant Chevy Impala (no seatbelt!) and hearing “50 Ways to Leave your Lover” by Paul Simon and “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell on the radio, Olivia Newton John’s “Please Mister Please” brings back memories of summer road trips to see my grandparents, and “Grease (is the word)” was very popular the summer I rode the bus to summercamp.

My own mother would listen to music when she did housework on the weekend. She had a turntable with a very long center stick on which she would put a stack of albums, each dropping down as the last one finished. I listened to what she listened to and as a result I have a vast warehouse of lyrics by Kenny Rodgers, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Tom Jones. I also developed quite a crush on Elvis as a child. I wept buckets when he died.

When I was a little older and had money of my own, I made weekly trip to the local TG&Y to see what 45s singles were on the top ten that week. I had a small turntable in my room and would play one after another, dancing along. (I still have a stack of those in storage, no doubt melted into one big blob by now.) “Whip It”, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, and “Physical” are a few that I remember buying.

Music today is different, in part because of the digital age. With iPods and iTunes, people don’t necessarily buy albums anymore – they only buy the songs they like. And if they follow the “if you like this, you may also like” that link, they can end up with some fairly eclectic playlists. There was a party for some young teenagers recently where they were using their iPod for the music. Their choices ran from The Who (60s), Van Halen (80s), to Red Hot Chili Peppers (90s), plus a lot of more modern stuff I didn’t recognize. They picked what they liked to hear. The music for them won’t be tied to any point in time for them – other than the point that they chose to download it.

My daughter is going to be eight soon and she still likes The Wiggles. (She doesn’t seem to notice when her more worldly friends roll their eyes at her) Being innocent isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I’m thinking that maybe I need to introduce some more artists into the mix. I don’t want her to be a totally stunted socially. I may have to get on iTunes myself and start their musical education…

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