Hello Laguna Listeners,
Throughout my almost 25 years at WGHN, I have often used “toe-tapper” to describe an upbeat song.
Today’s show allows me to tell you the “toe-tapper” backstory.
During the noon hour, I mentioned it was the 43rd anniversary of the release of the John Travolta film Urban Cowboy.
The movie, set in Pasadena, Texas, is a love story dropped into the world of the burgeoning mainstream country music movement and honky tonk bar popularity of the early 1980s.
Mickey Gilley’s “Stand By Me” appeared on the film’s soundtrack and our show today.
The 1980 single was a massive crossover hit for the country singer whose namesake drinking establishment featured in the film.
So…
As a kid, the blend of music in the Bruce house was as eclectic as a pound of “Good Morning Grand Haven Coffee.”
Mother played Bob Seger, Elvis, and Motown, on a giant phonograph in the living room.
My brother Elwood educated me on some Dutch brothers named Van Halen.
And then there was my Dad.
He does not confine his taste to a specific style of music.
I recall him playing the Supremes, country, and gospel.
The one thing all the songs had in common was an uptempo steady beat.
A superb example is the Mickey Gilley classic, “Don’t The Girls All Get Prettier At Closing Time.”
I vividly remember my Dad playing this song on a CD boombox in the kitchen for hours.
He would sit at the table and grade papers while bouncing his toes in perfect time off the floor.
My Dad can hold a beat.
Mickey Gilley was the soundtrack to many a home improvement project on Smith’s Bayou, where he might add an occasional melodic whistle while tapping on a two-by-four.
There are other songs I am sure he tapped a toe to, but this one, with its rollicking piano, is the one I remember most.
Mickey Gilley passed away last year.
But his music, in particular, a song about the “fallen angels of the backstreet bar,” is alive in the toes of Pa Bruce.
And that, boys and girls, is the origin of my radio term “toe-tapper.”
jb
Photo courtesy of discogs.com.
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