Up Front / Commentary: Mighty fine music has a catchy tune and tells a story

I don't know if I was lucky or not. I was born the same week that the stock market crashed in 1929. But I was also the recipient of some of the greatest music ever written or sung after and during the Great Depression.

I can remember some of our supper tables being pretty bare. But it seemed that with the bad times, World War II and the Korean War, the music just got better with each song. Frank Sinatra dominated the music scene with his soft baritone voice. But he wasn't the only one on the hit parade. Johnny Mandel's hauntingly beautiful "The Shadow Of Your Smile" will remain with me always.

But there was also a lot of other good music. For harmony, there was the three-part harmony of The Sons Of The Pioneers. And for tight harmony there was the Everly Brothers. There was Doris Day, who sang us to sleep each night that we were waiting in the barracks to be sent overseas. And there was Eddy Arnold and Jim Reeves to serenade us through the day.

I know good music when I hear it. It should tell a story, whether happy or sad. It should be singable and whistleable. That's what makes for good music. I even enjoyed Rick Nelson's little innocent love songs.

Then one day my world of gentle music came crashing down around me. The Beatles had arrived. It seemed like the whole music industry made an about-face. Songs became a jumble of sound that was frantic and wild with no tune and no meaning. People would be famous for three or four days, then they would end up in jail.

It is still happening. It seems like the drug culture had taken over the music industry. How long has it been since you've heard a couple of kids walking down the street singing or whistling a song. There aren't any out there.

I'm not saying there wasn't any good music during that goofy period. We had Henry Mancini playing "Moon River" and "Baby Elephant Walk," and a bunch more. He was truly an artist. We had Kris Kristofferson writing some pretty interesting bedroom music. Nat King Cole taught us how to use the English language in his signature song, "Unforgettable." We had John Denver singing about West Virginia and the Rocky Mountains, even Buck Owens came up with a winner in "Together Again."

There was some pretty good music that made its way through the fog to brighten up the day once in a while. I even like Dean Martin's little jingle of songs. But I can only take so much of Willie Nelson.

As you can tell, this is an old man's lament, so it should be taken for what it is. But would I like to be 22 again? I don't think so.

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Vic Deering is a retired Tribune printer and can be reached at city@lmtribune.com, or at (208) 848-2269.