Apr18

‘mistakes are the portals of discovery.’ – james joyce

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(a repost of mine from April 30th, 2014 – in honor of Record Store Day)
—
so excited

saved up my change

69 cents

to buy my very first record

was a young beatles fan

 got a ride to the store

found ‘lady madonna’

ran to the counter

counted out my change

 skipped out of the store.

—

 put the record on

 moment i got home

 quickly discovered

 in my rush and excitement

i’d actually purchased

 the fats domino version

of the same song

so not the same

so different

 new to me

but wow

whiplash

didn’t know

there was such a thing

as cover versions.

–

do you ever get that excited that you lose sight of the mission?

do you ever discover something wonderful and new,  quite by accident?

‘the four building blocks of the universe

are fire, water, gravel and vinyl.’

-dave barry

 

—–
image credits: captiol records, reprise records

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50 responses »

  2. this is such a GREAT story. And Fats Domino was one of my very first disks too – completely unknown to me, a Swiss girl, so it might well have been a cover version of something too!!!! So exciting to read this. My 1st record ever was Sitting on the docks of the bay and it was a gift of an admirer from where I worked as an apprentice…. A tall young man in his 4th year of learning, kind, clever, full of freckles and a head of firy red hair (a O’Connor lookalike of some sort), gave it to me. BUT I already had a boyfriend. I wonder what he (redhead) became later.

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  3. Nothing beats those memories of getting your money together and rushing off to buy a hit record you love, anticipating that you are going to keep playing it all day. As for the one you bought by mistake, I think you got the better version. I much prefer Fats to The Beatles. 😊
    Best wishes, Pete.

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  10. First thing I ever did with “my own” money was buy the 45 of Merle Travis’s “16 Tons,” done by Tennessee Ernie Ford. I think it was 45 cents. I actually won a radio contest and got a free record. I asked for “Big John.” I should’ve said “Big Bad John.” But hey, it was my first 1.5 seconds of fame when they said my name on the radio.

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  11. You’ve probably noticed that sometimes the original version of a song doesn’t take off or at best does okay, but that it takes a cover version, sometimes years later, to take off. One example is Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

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  22. My first LP….. Bought second hand from girl in my class. Sargeant Peppers. Followed by Cream “”Fresh Cresm”,,, then Dylan’s Blondvon Blond, then mixturevof songs by Leadbelly….. quite eclectic.

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  23. Pingback: Blesiloquent Hot Links – Tacky Raccoons

  24. When I started my library page job in 95, the vinyls were being phased out. And now, they’ve made a resurgence. There’s just something wonderful about the tactile experience of holding and playing a vinyl record that’s not the same with the pristine and intangible sound of digital music. Happy Record Store Day!

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