and they were singing... bye bye...

when i was little, my mom constantly had music playing.  in the house, in the car, outside - everywhere.  until about age 8, we listened to 61 country - am radio, baby.  everything we listened to then is now considered old school country.  dolly, barbara mandrell, juice newton - ahhh the classics.

one of our favorite songs was "family tradition" by hank williams jr.  i very clearly remember me and laura (probably around age 4 and 7) dancing around our living room in cutoff jeans and vinyl-appliques t-shirts singing about getting drunk with jim beam.  very age appropriate.

a classic shot of laura singing

another one we LOVED was "nobody" by sylvia.  another example of a perfect song for young girls to be singing - it's about cheating.
...well, your nobody called today
she hung up when i asked her name
well i wonder
does she think she's being clever?...
laura and i knew every single word to this song, including the background vocals.  background vocals are the forgotten jewels of a song.

at some point, in the 80's, i clearly remember my mom asking us if we wanted to listen to a new radio station - WHB.  uhhhh, no.  i was perfectly happy with 61 country, no need to switch.  well, i soon realized that wasn't really a question from my mom - we were switching stations.  so we were introduced to "oldies" at that point - the beach boys, franki valli, buddy holly.

laura and i really took to the beach boys, and "barbara ann" was added to our repertoire.  i was even known to give free concerts to my infant cousin, nick (who lived next door).  i would stand under his bedroom window and belt that song out until he woke up from his nap and sang along.

after a few years with WHB, my mom switched us to KUDL.  this time she didn't ask - she just changed the dial.  KUDL was light rock - jim croce, joni mitchell, simon & garfunkel.  we were well-rounded in music variety by the ages of 12 and 9.

my point is that we were never without music, and we were always singing along.  laura and i knew all the words to all the songs - from "ring of fire" to "duke of earl" to "rhiannon."  as an adult, i assumed this was normal.  i always have music playing in my car - always.  now that i choose the tunes, it's typically dave matthews band, counting crows, coldplay, a little hootie now and then....

so why is it, that my boys can't sing one song in it's entirety?  they can't even sing the chorus to one song!!  since zane was born, i've quizzed him on "who sings this song?"  it's always one of 6 choices - dmb, cc, coldplay, hootie, u2, or pearl jam.  i may as well be asking him who invented the radio.  he has no clue.  and neither do zander or zaiden!  how can this be?

is this a generational problem?  is it a boy thing?  i mean, their dad looks at me like i'm crazy when i open the sun room and rip out my version of "no sleep til brooklyn," so maybe it is a boy thing.  i have no idea.  it's devastating to me. 

last week, on a road trip to ikea, i made a special cd for my mom and sister to listen to.  we had 3 of the 5 boys with us in the car when air supply's "making love out of nothing at all" faded in.  laura and i screamed out that song (with background vocals) and even nailed perfect air-guitar and air-drum solos.  the boys never even looked up from their video games.  never. looked. up.  either they aren't impressed by our spot-on performance or they don't like music.  (i guess deafness is always a possibility too) 

where have i gone wrong??  i suppose i should find happiness in that when i am ready to change the station someday to "oldies" music from the 90's, i won't have to ask the boys for permission.  they won't even notice.