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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Oldies

By Augustus Lum, Waipio

There are over one millions songs released every year in the US. It would take anyone quite a time to listen to all of them. However the disc jockeys are the ones making the decisions according to their listeners and they will all differ. Some nice ones will emerge after a couple of decades as "oldies music." And it is an informal expression that means even though something is old it could be very good. Another more formal adjective we use to express the same meaning is "classic" but that may take a little longer.

"Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a beautiful song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it."


The range is a according to age of the listeners. Generally it begins for the listeners in their 20s and ends just about 20 years back. So people 90 years old now have their oldies but goodies which are generally from the year 1947 to the year 1997. Since we do not have clones many will differ from this guess. And a person 60 years was not born in 1947 or even near, when rock and roll was introduced in 1950. The list of oldies but goodies will constantly change so there is no one person that will ever determine that.

 "As Time Goes By" written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931


Since the beginning of rock and roll in the mid 1950s, popular music has undergone many radical changes and branched out into a wide variety of genres, with each decade being defined by a different set of styles. Today, most of what is considered to be oldies but goodies music covers the 1950s through at least the 1990s. although they may refer to them by other names, e.g., "classic hits."

"At Last"  1941, written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren


On Oahu, we are discovering the value and the attraction of the "Oldies But Goodies" and the best place to get to hear this kind of music is from a Live Band. A few fans are already aware of this, and I did not really pay attention until last year. But for sure we are going to enjoy listening and dancing to some of the best music from 1917, a century back.

"Dance to that music for yourself. Those that
don't mind are the ones that matter."

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