Aaron's Radio Show – The Podcast

Episode 47 : My Three Songs with Aaron Gobler

• Aaron • Season 1 • Episode 47

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The 37th in a series of shows called "My Three Songs", where my guest selects three memorable songs and we discuss why those songs are meaningful to them.

This recording includes the full interview but does NOT include licensed music.   To hear all episodes including the songs we discuss, please visit AaronsRadio.show.

Jake:

Coming to you almost live from Berkeley, California, it's Aaron's Radio Show, with your host, Aaron Gobler.

Aaron Gobler:

Thanks, Jake. And welcome, everybody to Episode 47. Welcome to My Three Songs, where I play three special songs chosen by my guest, and we talk about why they chose each song. Today, our show will be a little different than usual. Rather than having a guest, I'll be talking only to you. I've conducted 34 interviews from My Three Songs so far. But sometimes the timing doesn't work out for getting a guest every time I need one. It's really important to me that I keep a schedule for the show, you know, have an episode every week. So today, you'll be hearing from just me about three memorable songs from my life. I'm hoping the slight change the format will provide you and me a different but equally enjoyable experience. And I'd like to continue to produce some episodes with just the two of us.

Aaron Gobler.:

Before we get into my list, I do want to thank all my guests from the bottom of my heart. This show is a labor of love for me. And every guest has done me a huge service by believing in what I'm doing and supporting my efforts. So I want to thank all of my guests. And of course, I want to thank you my listeners for keeping up with the show. It's incredibly rewarding to know that people are enjoying something I produce.

Aaron Gobler:

So let's start talking about music. I thought for a while about what songs I'd want to share if the tables were turned, and I were the guest instead of the host. Music has been a real soundtrack for my life. And I thought I'd focus on different periods of my life and highlight three songs from those years or eras. Today I've chosen to focus on 1969. And that's the first time I can recall actually grasping the concept of popular music, through radio and vinyl. I was around five years-old at that time. The songs I'm including today are "More Today Than Yesterday" by the Spiral Starecase; "Aquarius / Let the Sun Shine In" by the 5th Dimension"; and "Sugar, Sugar", by the Archies. So let's not waste any time and jump right into "More Today Than Yesterday".

Aaron Gobler.:

Now I don't think I could grow tired of hearing that song. I think it epitomizes my experience of listening to WFIL AM 560 in Philadelphia back in 1969. You know when I hear this song, I'm immediately brought back to being driven to kindergarten by a family friend, Tony DeBello. He was a barber. And my dad and I, and eventually my baby brother Michael, were customers of his. He lived not too far away from us. And he worked near where my kindergarten was. So he offered to drive me to kindergarten in the mornings. And as I recall, he had this tiny sports car I don't know maybe it was like a Fiat Spider. But I could see the asphalt move under the car. As we were driving. You know, there was a small hole somewhere probably around the brake pedal so I could actually see the road moving underneath the car. So it was kind of thrilling. But the more important thing for this story is really that he had his radio on WFIL and we listened to music on our ride. And that's really so much of what I remember about the experience of him driving me to kindergarten. I really don't know how long a period of time he drove me to kindergarten but I certainly remember listening to the radio on our rides. Now, as I got older I started appreciating the lyrics more, especially in regards to the math like more today than yesterday but half as much as tomorrow. And as I started pondering that more I realized just how poetic it was. And such a good lesson in fractions and multiplication, too.

Aaron Gobler:

Now, next song is"Aquarius / Let the Sun Shine In" by the 5th Dimension. Let's take a listen to that.

Aaron Gobler.:

This song was from the popular musical "Hair", but I really wasn't aware of that at age five. Nor did I hear the song "Hair" for another year or so. One of the things that really fascinated me about this song was that it was like two songs in one, and I hadn't really experienced something like that. I didn't connect the fact that it was actually a medley of two songs from the musical. I also recall this song as, as one of the many 45 RPM records that my mom or someone else in our family had already. And that was before I had actually bought any of my own records. This song sounds so kind of ethereal and mystical at the beginning. And at age five, I really didn't understand astrology or astronomy, or anything, really about what they were saying in the song. But I just was caught up in the feeling of the song. And then it switches to this, like joyous gospel celebration, and they're singing, "let the sun shine in!" And it just, I just felt like it was this amazing like sandwich. And it's still a timeless song for me. But whenever I do hear it, I brought back to 1969.

Aaron Gobler:

So let's take a listen to the last song on my list, which is "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies.

Aaron Gobler.:

Now at age five, I was not aware of the Archies TV show which was on and I don't remember how old I was when I made that association that this was from that TV show. I think as a five year-old, I simply just appreciated the simpleness of the song. One of the most poignant memories of the song for me is the 45 RPM record ... the vinyl ... that I had of the song; it had a crack straight through it from the edge to the center. I remember being fascinated about how records worked. And that I could snap the vinyl back into some kind of alignment. And I could still play it. It did have a distinct tick each time the nield went over the crack. But I really remarked at the fact that I it was not ruined, that I could still actually play this record and that the groove, as tiny as it was, the needle was still able to to, to work its way around the record, I still have that 45 ... I probably should try to play it and see if I can recreate that feeling of fascination about a cracked record.

Aaron Gobler:

After sharing my thoughts today, I realized I probably could do an entire podcast series on the 45s I used to or still possess. I think I had over maybe 300 of them at some point. But that's just a wild guess based on how many boxes of 45s I had at some point. I'm guessing I could file through them and experience something like going through a photo album. But in this case, the pictures would all just be inside my head.

Aaron Gobler.:

I like to thank you for taking some time today to enjoy this little trip back in time with me. And please let me know if you'd like me to create more episodes like this in the future. And of course, if you want to be part of the show, start by going to our website Aaron's Radio dot show and clicking on the My three songs button on the homepage. You can also sign up for our mailing list so you'll know immediately when a new episode is available. You can also find Aaron's radio show on your favorite podcast service. But the podcast episodes only include interviews and no licensed music.

Aaron Gobler:

Before we wrap up this episode, I wanted to let you know of an experimental format we have for the Radio Show. The name of the format is"Dedications." If you're familiar with Casey Kasem's Top 40 show, he would read a dedication written by one listener with hopes that it would reach the ears of another listener, and then he would play the song. In this new experimental format. I'm hoping to recapture some of that magic. So I'm asking you ... if you have a dedication you'd like to make to somebody, please go to Aaron's Radio dot show slash dedications to submit yours. Once I receive several I'll begin making episodes based on those dedications. Thanks!

Aaron Gobler.:

So until next time, keep your ears and mind open and let more music into your world.

Female voice:

You're listening to Aaron's Radio Show.