# Your very earliest favorite musical recording **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2020, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152 "2020-02-19T04:59:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [February 19, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/21 "2020-02-19T17:05:11Z")
I remember listening to “The Hokey-Pokey,” “Buttons and Bows,” “Buffalo Gal,” and “Green Fields” between the ages of three and four. But my favorite song back then was **this one**. I got the album it was on for Christmas, 1958: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/joAXosrtocg/hqdefault.jpg "Chipmunks - The Chipmunk Song 1958") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joAXosrtocg) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/22 "2020-02-19T17:14:08Z")
^ Would you please quit putting your left foot in? You kicked me on the ankle. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/23 "2020-02-19T17:26:00Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > ^ Would you please quit putting your left foot in? You kicked me on the ankle. 😉 You’re sig line reminded me of “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window” by Patti Page (1952). Almost all of my earliest music memories precede the rock & roll era, and almost everyone listened either to crooners or western music in the early 50s. “Negro music” had its own audience and it really took the integration of it into rock rhythms for it to hit mainstream. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/24 "2020-02-19T17:27:55Z")
Late 60’s - listening to older sibs’ Sergeant Pepper’s/Magical Mystery Tour/White Album/Abbie Road, which got me stoked enough to get the first b-day present I remember (4th b-day) - the _Let it Be_ single. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/25 "2020-02-19T17:38:08Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > You’re sig line reminded me of “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window” by Patti Page (1952). Almost all of my earliest music memories precede the rock & roll era, and almost everyone listened either to crooners or western music in the early 50s. “Negro music” had its own audience and it really took the integration of it into rock rhythms for it to hit mainstream. I’ve felt for a long time **Chefguy** that you and I must have come off the assembly line at roughly the same time. (I could have made your same responses many times!) Not just the timing but the tone of our responses to those things make me aware of how much we are in the same general “cohort” and that others may not have those same stimuli to respond to that we have. It’s comforting to be able to compare notes in a favorable way to those sorts of things. (I trust that these comments are not too presumptuous!) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/26 "2020-02-19T17:38:28Z")
Early Seventies, also via listening to older sibs’ music: “[Beep Beep](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMNtnr0LKYk)”. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/27 "2020-02-19T17:40:28Z")
In preschool a friend’s dad played the banjo in a bluegrass band\*. I vaguely remember him coming to school and playing for our class one day, and afterwards we got a cassette of him playing. I don’t remember if they just recorded his performance at my school, of if it was something he’d previously recorded. But I remember I wanted to listen to “Turkey in the Straw” over and over. I guess after that my parents figured that I liked bluegrass after that, because at some point they played a record for me that included “Orange Blossom Special”. After that I made my mom play that song for me every day. \*Not professionally, but more of a just for fun thing. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/28 "2020-02-19T17:41:24Z")
One of the earliest ones I distinctly remember being on the radio was Bill Haley’s [See You Later Alligator](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch1UQ47rWKU) (1956). I would have been about five. A bit later, but one I remember playing over and over again was Johnny Horton’s [Battle of New Orleans](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjXM6x_0KZk) (1959). ---
**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:** [February 19, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/29 "2020-02-19T18:13:22Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > A bit later, but one I remember playing over and over again was Johnny Horton’s [Battle of New Orleans](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjXM6x_0KZk) (1959). Ah, but do you remember the parody by Homer and Jethro? :dubious: https://www.youtube.com/embed/o0mGFjAySTw?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDo0mGFjAySTw ---
**Author:** ![Time\_Like\_Tears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@Time\_Like\_Tears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Like_Tears)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/30 "2020-02-19T18:13:59Z")
My uncle sent us mixtapes of ALL SORTS of randomness, intended especially for my sister and me when we were very small. I distinctly recall listening to one that included Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition on one side and the Nutcracker Suite on the other, and dancing all through the house. This would have been 1983-84. There was also a wonderful tape of oldies that I know for sure included Del Shannon’s Runaway and Telstar by The Tornados. I know these two songs distinctly because we made up choreographed dances to each song. Telstar was definitely about a rocketship taking off, btw. (I was 3 or 4 years old, knew nothing at all of the space race!) ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/31 "2020-02-19T18:40:34Z")
My wife thinks this is hilarious, but… When I was first allowed to use the family hi-fi system at the age of seven, the records around the house were classic 50s and 60s musicals. Later, we got quite a few albums for kids. In the meantime, I memorized all the lyrics to _ **Gigi** _, _ **My Fair Lady** _, _ **The Flower Drum Song** _, _ **South Pacific** _, and a few others. I can, for example, sing or recite the lyrics to “I Remember It Well” on request. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/32 "2020-02-19T18:43:58Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > ^ Would you please quit putting your left foot in? You kicked me on the ankle. 😉 Hey, that’s not what they meant when they said you should “shake it all about”! :eek: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/33 "2020-02-19T18:44:46Z")
The very first song I remember loving was Tommy Roe’s Dizzy when I was really little, but I think I only liked it because when it came on the radio I’d spin around to make myself dizzy lol I was like five years old. But the first song that I really loved was The Sweet’s Little Willy [Sweet - Little Willy - Top Of The Pops/Disco 1972 (OFFICIAL) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM6I-pmV0RA) I had the 45 then got the 8-track. I still love that album to this day. It pointed me in the direction of punk rock which would come a few years later. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/34 "2020-02-19T18:46:23Z")
Big Bad John, by Jimmy Dean. I was 5 years old and living in a company mill town that doesn’t exist anymore and I remember this song and a road that led up the hill where I was sure the mine was. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KnnHprUGKF0/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgZShlMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCcVUQFRzH-459LivTdgPeTI7qyVw "BIG BAD JOHN ~ Jimmy Dean (1961)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnnHprUGKF0) ---
**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:** [February 19, 2020, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/35 "2020-02-19T18:50:26Z")
Do TV themes count? I could sing “Topper,” “Whirlybirds,” “Sea Hunt,” and “The William Tell Overture” before I was four, even though they had no lyrics. Sometimes I’d make up my own. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/36 "2020-02-19T19:05:19Z")
1956: Jerry Lewis (who really could sing) **Rock A Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody.** Got it from my mother in 1956, it turned out to be the first in my lifetime collection of thousands of 45’s, LP’s, CD’s, and mp3’s. I still have that nearly unplayable old Decca 45, as well as remastered versions on cd, and I still love the hell out of it- Lewis does a terrific performance, evoking Judy Garland and Al Jolson. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RfVeOpw-NPY/hqdefault.jpg "Jerry Lewis - Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody (1956)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfVeOpw-NPY) ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/37 "2020-02-19T19:23:22Z")
I had a Sesame Street record player, or something similar. I could play 45s on it, including my beloved [King Tut](https://youtu.be/wgTPH5y1-ZI). I wasn’t allowed to use the big record player when I was that age, so I had to ask my parents if I wanted to listen to the soundtrack from The Muppet Movie and Star Wars. Later we got a tape deck, and then my parents recorded the records onto cassettes. John Denver, Man of La Mancha, Cleo Laine, Neil Diamond, the list goes on. And of those, I can sing along with many of the songs. But I don’t own a one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/38 "2020-02-19T19:41:41Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I’ve felt for a long time **Chefguy** that you and I must have come off the assembly line at roughly the same time. (I could have made your same responses many times!) Not just the timing but the tone of our responses to those things make me aware of how much we are in the same general “cohort” and that others may not have those same stimuli to respond to that we have. It’s comforting to be able to compare notes in a favorable way to those sorts of things. (I trust that these comments are not too presumptuous!) Like, dude. 😃 Sounds reasonable. I really grew up listening to a lot of western music; the good stuff, not the crap they’re churning out today. When rock music burst onto the scene, I never looked back, but that old stuff by Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, etc. is still some of my favorite music. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/39 "2020-02-19T19:46:37Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Mine is very close: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh-J4GSPgAM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh-J4GSPgAM) > Snoopy’s Christmas vs. The Red Baron - The Royal Guardsmen You have excellent taste in music, friend. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152/40 "2020-02-19T19:49:21Z")
I remember my friend and I digging through his grandmother’s collection of 45s when we were maybe seven years old. We thought the song “Playground in my Mind” (“My name is Johnny. I got a nickel. I got a nickel shiney and new.”) was the funniest thing ever and “Snoopy vs the Red Barron” was the greatest song we ever heard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-very-earliest-favorite-musical-recording/848152.md?page=3)