# 1960s: what classic oldies did middle-aged folks listen to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344 "2016-06-14T13:10:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/41 "2016-06-17T17:19:56Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Interesting fact: Herb Alpert’s records inspired Johnny Cash to add horns to “Ring of Fire.” Interesting indeed! I’d’ve thought “Ring of Fire” predated Herb’s popularity by at least several years. When did he start recording? When was the Tijuana Brass formed? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/42 "2016-06-17T17:48:26Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Interesting indeed! I’d’ve thought “Ring of Fire” predated Herb’s popularity by at least several years. When did he start recording? When was the Tijuana Brass formed? The Tijuana Brass’ first hit, “The Lonely Bull”, made the Top 10 in 1962. Cash’s version of “Ring of Fire” came out in 1963. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/43 "2016-06-17T17:54:33Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > The Tijuana Brass’ first hit, “The Lonely Bull”, made the Top 10 in 1962. Cash’s version of “Ring of Fire” came out in 1963. I had no idea! I remember my brother listening to the TB in 1966 or '67, but not before. “Ring of Fire,” though, I definitely remember hearing when I was in third grade (and so many times that I learned the lyrics forward and backward without even trying). Ignorance fought! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/44 "2016-06-17T18:02:02Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > My parents were in the cohort OP speaks of. One of their favorites was [Stardust, e.g. as sung by Frank Sinatra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn27HYX_DYI) or [Louis Armstrong](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIE6U6Lrtrc), or [Nat King Cole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjU6ZjrQulc). The song was composed and [first sung by Hoagie Carmichael](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2fbOAyNOpM). > 'Fess up Dopers! How many of you have never heard of the song? > > Listening to it just now, I realize I _ **do not like** _ the song! :eek: The only part I like starts at 1:13 in the Nat King Cole version — the bars my Mother used to sing. > > My mother liked to tell of the time they visited a piano bar with friends a decade or three after the song’s heyday, requested _The Immortal Stardust_, and were dumbfounded when the piano player said he’d never heard of it. Trivia: That song is featured in the Twilight Zone ep “It’s a Good Life” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/45 "2016-06-17T20:18:27Z")
As noted, pre-rock oldies stations were few and far between. What those folk listened to was “easy listening” stations. Some of the performers included oldie-type people like Frank Sinatra but covering mostly newer songs. Pete Fontaine covering “Look What They’ve Done to My Song Ma” seems to have missed the point. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/46 "2016-06-17T21:34:07Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > My parents were in the cohort OP speaks of. One of their favorites was [Stardust, e.g. as sung by Frank Sinatra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn27HYX_DYI) or [Louis Armstrong](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIE6U6Lrtrc), or [Nat King Cole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjU6ZjrQulc). The song was composed and [first sung by Hoagie Carmichael](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2fbOAyNOpM). > 'Fess up Dopers! How many of you have never heard of the song? > > Listening to it just now, I realize I _ **do not like** _ the song! :eek: The only part I like starts at 1:13 in the Nat King Cole version — the bars my Mother used to sing. It’s one of my favorite songs. Pure poetry. Though it’s of my parents’ generation, my own taste in music goes back to the Baroque period. But although Hoagy Carmichael composed the music, the lyrics were added later by Mitchell Parish. An excellent cover of the song was by [Natalie Cole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYWJF7kV2ys), though I find it a bit slow. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/47 "2016-06-17T22:00:39Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > My mother liked to tell of the time they visited a piano bar with friends a decade or three after the song’s heyday, requested _The Immortal Stardust_, and were dumbfounded when the piano player said he’d never heard of it. This reminds me (kinda) of an experience I had not long after I moved to Moscow in 1992: I was waiting for someone in a swank hotel with an honest-to-God lounge pianist, and was suddenly overwhelmed by a desire to hear “Someone to Watch over Me” (maybe because I’d recently seen the movie of the same name with an incredibly hot Lorraine Bracco). I approached the pianist and asked him quietly if he knew _“Da-da-da-da-daaaa, da-da da-da da-da, da-da da-da, da-da da-daaa”_… I honestly didn’t think he would know what the hell I was talking about, especially after my less than precise rendition. To my astonishment, he nodded and said “Oh, da, da!” [“Of course!”], then turned to the exact page in his music book and started to play it beautifully! I was \*\*so \*\*pleasantly surprised! :o ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/48 "2016-06-17T22:20:03Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > As noted, pre-rock oldies stations were few and far between. For some reason, oldies (i.e., '50s and early '60s rock ‘n’ roll) had a great renaissance about the time I graduated from high school (1973). I remember listening to WYOO in Minneapolis that year and getting hooked on them. I guess the people who were old enough to remember when they were first played had reached the age where they could feel nostalgic about them. (They certainly brought back my early childhood.) Interestingly, that was the same year _ **American Graffiti** _ (one of my favorite movies) came out: 1 August 1973. That added even more impetus to the revival; I think Wolfman Jack got a second career out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/49 "2016-06-18T02:54:57Z")
My mother (born in the 1950s) once mentioned she was surprised that the local PBS affiliate still showed reruns of _The Lawrence Welk Show_, because even when she was a kid the show and its style of music were popular with people her grandparents’ age. She figured almost everyone who sincerely enjoyed this sort of thing would be long dead by now. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/50 "2016-06-18T04:06:36Z")
That would have been my parents, born in the early 1920’s. The music of their youth would have been big band and swing music, but I don’t remember them listening to that much when I was a kid. There was a TV show that counted down the current pop hits that was still running into 1959, called Your Hit Parade. I remember that the horribly inane “How much is that doggy in the window?” was number one for a horribly long time. But most of the top hit songs in that era tended to be either love ballads or novelty songs, not so very different from the 40’s except that dance rhythms were emphasized a lot less. Other than that, my father listened to classical music on the radio when it was available, which I’m sure was not something he heard at home as a boy. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/51 "2016-06-18T04:13:00Z")
My father liked big-band music. He had seen Glenn Miller and the like many times at the Moonlight Ballroom in Canton in his teens and early 20s, and also especially had a fondness for Benny Goodman and Harry James. When he got older and his depression deepened, he would sit in a chair all day and listen to a “beautiful music” radio station with “The Joe Blow Orchestra” playing “The Sounds of Bob Crosby,” and it would irritate the crap out of me because there was a perfectly good station that played the real recordings by the real artists. I liked the music too, and I wasn’t going to listen to that fake shit. But he just didn’t care anymore. The only younger artist I can remember him liking was Bobby Darin. I don’t remember enough about my mother to answer. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/52 "2016-06-18T04:36:53Z")
1970-45=1925. In 1945 the listener would have been 20. This is before rock and roll. So maybe the guy would have listened to Muzak ([WPAT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPAT_(AM))), Herb Alpert or Dave Brubeck if he was feeling arty. Nixon was a fan of the [Ray Conniff singers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WK34b4PGn4). “It the music is square, it’s because I like it square.” After he introduced them, one of the singers unveiled a protest banner, shocking news audiences and delighting subversives. ---
**Author:** ![appleaday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@appleaday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleaday)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/53 "2016-06-18T04:52:55Z")
Mother (born 1923)–liked the big band sound, light classical,show tunes, and pop music like Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Andy Williams and similar type artists. I remember her as a regular viewer of “Sing Along With Mitch”. Father (born 1919) – would listen to mainstream pop music, but his great love was country/western. In his youth, he had ambitions to be a country singer. Curiously enough, both parents loathed Frank Sinatra, just absolutely hated him. Once, when I was a child, I heard a Sinatra song on the radio, and said I kind of liked it. They decided they should disown me. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/54 "2016-06-18T22:36:42Z")
My father, born in 1923, only listened to classical music. My mother, born in 1921, rarely listened to the radio. While cooking supper, before she got a portable TV for the kitchen, she would listen to all-news WTOP. During this time Art Buchwald had a daily feature where he would re-create one of his satirical newspaper columns for radio. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/55 "2016-06-18T23:20:21Z")
My folks, both born in 1931, were not big music listeners. They had a seldom-played collection of Classical and show tunes albums, and listened to the (now snigger-inducingly named) station WGAY, which played what I would call “elevator music.” The funny thing was, as I got older, and WGAY’s playlist changed over the years, I would sometimes catch them playing a re-arranged Beatles tune, or once even, Blue Oyster cult (Don’t Fear the Reaper, done by the Mantovani Strings, or some such). When I pointed this out to my folks, they had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/56 "2016-06-20T16:49:38Z")
It’s funny, I don’t remember the radio on much as a kid. Maybe to listen to the Tigers baseball game. We had albums - Broadway cast recordings, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, some classical. StG ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/57 "2016-06-21T05:02:32Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > JFK, who was 46 when he died in 1963, liked some rock and roll (his friend Ben Bradlee wrote in _Conversations with Kennedy_ of dancing the Twist at small White House parties) and Broadway show tunes. He also went to jazz clubs occasionally when in NYC. His fondness for the cast album of _Camelot_ led his widow to suggest the name as shorthand for his brief but promising service as President. Heh. Someone should mount a production of Camelot, reimagined as taking place in the JFK White House… ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/58 "2016-06-21T08:36:33Z")
My dad liked very old country from the 40’s and 50’s. The 40’s were my dad’s high school years. Eddie Arnold, Bob Wills, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams. My mom liked Mantovani and other easy listening instrumental pop orchestras. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/59 "2016-06-21T12:59:27Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Heh. Someone should mount a production of Camelot, reimagined as taking place in the JFK White House… There was a community theater near me that did just that about three years ago! Nothing changed except sets and costumes. It wouldn’t surprise me if other local theaters had done the same. It seems like a natural. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2016, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344/60 "2016-06-21T13:33:13Z")
I propose we send a man to the Moors, and bring him back, before the next d’caid… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-what-classic-oldies-did-middle-aged-folks-listen-to/757344.md?page=2)