My mother had a stack of 45 rpm records that were several years older than me. Of course, when I was a kid that was really old old, antique, ancient, not like we, as adults think of songs from the previous decade. I was fascinated with these records. I liked the idea of listening to something from “so long ago” and I actually liked quite a few of the songs.

My two favorites were Ghost Riders in the Sky and The Wayward Wind. Unfortunately these two were in the worst condition of any of the records in the collection – scratchy and barely playable. I knew that by listening to them I was wearing them out even more so I chose not to listen to them too often. Two or three times a year? I don’t know… maybe more than that. It didn’t occur to me back then that the reason they were so worn out was that they had been my mother’s favorites too.

When I listened to this video a few minutes ago it was the first time I had heard The Wayward Wind in 40 years or more. Sadly, it does not appeal to me at all anymore.

Another song in the collection (I think. I don’t know where I else I would have heard it.) was Stagger Lee. I don’t think I ever liked it a lot but thought it was sort of an odd, interesting song. I didn’t know that it was based on an actual historical event. Thanks, Nicole.