Yesterday Once More

I'm the kind of person who has to listen to music during the day when I'm working or writing. Since I'm sick of a lot of the downloaded music I have on my phone and I've taken a needed break from Pandora, I've been listening to music on You Tube. There are a lot of good musical combinations created by You Tubers and I came across a few great 70s compilations that included some excellent songs from my past. Songs like "Yesterday Once More" by the Carpenters, "Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando and Dawn, and "Love Is in the Air" by Tom Paul Jones are just a few of the oldies I recently came across via You Tube. A lot of people knock 1970s music or only see that decade as the decade of disco, but they dismiss a lot of really great music. Hearing Karen Carpenter singing "Every sha la la la" in the chorus of "Yesterday Once More" is so calming to me. It's a shame she died so early, but fortunately the music she and her brother Richard put into the universe lives on.

I went to a reading with author Colson Whitehead a few months ago and during his talk he mentioned Donna Summer's song "MacArthur Park" which resulted in a sing-a-long with the audience. I was pleasantly surprised to hear my fellow Evanstonians in attendance belting out the chorus. Clearly there are a lot of 70s music fans in and around Evanston and folks who, like myself, know the words to "MacArthur Park."