One of the many great things about getting old…

Scratch that.

One of the few great things about getting old…

Ok, maybe the ONLY good thing about getting old is that to a very large degree you just don’t give a s**t anymore.

So in that spirit, I’m going to come clean.

We recently got a trial subscription to SiriusXM radio and I absolutely love the “70s on 7” channel.

It’s great when Springsteen, Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, The Doobie Brothers, et al come on. Boz Scaggs? Yes please.

But you know what else? (Here’s where I come clean.)

I also turn up the volume when Barry Manilow comes up. “Mandy”, sure. It’s arguably my biggest guilty pleasure in music. But today “I Write the Songs” came on. Volume went way up. I sang along with every word. And you can bet I was belting it out for the final “I am Music! And I write the sonnnnnnnnnngs!”

My affection for Karen Carpenter (*) is well known. Sure it’s great when “Rainy Days and Mondays” or “Close to You” or “We’ve Only Just Begun” hit the speakers. But a few days ago when “Yesterday Once More” came on, I sang along with Karen on every Sha-la-la-la and every Wo-o-wo-o. It’s amazing to me how we can remember song lyrics we haven’t heard in years. I guess, as Karen sings, we’d “mem-o-rize each word”.

(*) Karen Carpenter -sigh- Did I love her or Susan Dey more in the 70s? Probably Susan since I saw her every week on The Partridge Family show. Karen was only on during those Carpenter Christmas Special shows, which were truly, deeply, undeniably horrible. But I got to see Karen sing, so I watched them anyway.

• 

• 

But if you knew me in the 70s, you’d find this last admission hard to believe. I even get a kick out of hearing disco songs.

The other day “The Hustle” by Van McCoy came on. The singers hit that first “ooooooo ooo ooo” and I immediately knew what song it was, and I instantly broke out into an ear-to-ear grin.

Don’t get me wrong. I still hate disco. I still think Disco Sucks. But I get the biggest kick out of hearing it again.

(I do have my limitations. I don’t need to hear the Bay City Rollers ever again in my life. They came on today and I did not grin.)

So go ahead. Ridicule my musical taste. Let me have it for enjoying crass commercial pop songs. Heap scorn upon my happiness when disco comes on.

I. Don’t. Care.

I’ll be bopping down the road with “70s on 7” blaring out of my speakers. Classic rock. Pop. And yes, disco.

I have not yet learned how to do the Hustle dance, but I’m not ruling it out either.

Do they still make bell bottoms?

The title picture is 70s Retro Swirl Art by trajeado14, which is available for purcahse at society6.com. The other pictures are from Google searches. Hopefully no one minds that I’ve used them.