28 March 2006

The song the spurred the E.R.A.

I was listening to an oldies station on the drive hom today. It always amazes me so of the great songs that still can get you moving and grooving. Fun. One song they played just before I pulled into the driveway has to be the song most responsible for the Equal Rights Amendment. It's by the Okaysions and never ceases to get my attention and laughs asI listen to the lyrics:

Girl Watcher
The O'Kaysions
(Buck Trail/Wayne Pittman)

Chorus:

I'm a girl watcher,
I'm a girl watcher...
Watchin' girls go by,
hey, my my
I'm a girl watcher,
I'm a girl watcher...
Here comes one now

I was just a boy when I threw away my toys
And found a new pastime to dwell on
Whenever I detects them there of the other sex
I play the game I do so well on

[repeat chorus]

Mumble something tell my my, but you do look swell
Could you please walk a little slower
Wonder if you know that you're putting on a show
Could you please walk a little closer

Can you believe those lyrics???? They always make me laugh. It brings back memories of walking the streets of Oceanside as a young girl (13-14) and having jarheads drive by asking if we were looking for fun. What???? was always our response. Get lost! We could never believe they would be asking us to join them. We pitied them. Those crazy haircuts were a dead giveaway, and no girl wanted to even talk to them back then.

Then came high school. Several of my friends started dating guys from the ANA in Carlsbad and several others of us were floored! The separation of camps was inevitable. Those who would date guys in uniform and those of us who wouldn't. Me? Well, I was too shy to even think of dating any guy. I had several surfer friends and was willing to keep it at that. I still have a note from one of them that he wrote to me in spanish . I didn't know what it said as I was too cool for spanish, I was the french speaker of the group. Once I asked a spanish teacher to translate it for me. He read it, asked if it was from a guy, and then refused to tell me what it said. He told me I should really get back in contact with the guy who wrote it and see if he wanted to translate it for me. Well, he had moved (his dad was in the service) and I had no way of finding him. So I will probably never know what that note said. Wait! I have two sons-in-law that speak spanish! Maybe one of them will translate it. Ugh, what if it's creepy? Maybe it's better to leave it alone. Sigh, I'll always remember him as being the sweetest guy around. James Hollingsworth. Super guy. He looked a lot like John Lennon.

Incredible what memories a song will trigger. Still, I loved being a teenager. I loved music as my foundation, and all the great memories I have sunk into the music with me.