Such guys might get on TV too. Radio and TV seemed more like an exclusive domain in the pre-digital days. Adding to these categories would be writing for a newspaper. Writing was far more of an exclusive skill when I was growing up.
A sea change from today when a kid's fingers will start tapping on the keys when almost out of the cradle.
And I don't care that social media gets derided by many as so much foolishness. Kids develop with communication skills in a dynamic way.
Through cobwebs of time
The bygone days saw "top 40" radio as quite the soothing backdrop for us all. Out of the blue I remembered an old song recently. It was about one of those people who definitely had an irresistible passion. Not a passion to get wealthy either. I mean, I doubt your average "radio deejay" in a mid-size city cleaned up financially. Probably at the low end of making a living wage. All the more power to them. But many of them probably had the innate skills to do better.
Just as I was drawn to newspaper writing post-Watergate, many young people saw radio as a stimulating place to be, to be right at the heartbeat of where all that glorious music came from. The music that formed a tapestry for the background of the boomer generation's young lives.
The deejays could develop a small-time sense of celebrity about themselves. Nothing wrong with that. We all want to be in a niche where we'll get noticed in some way. I suppose that's especially true when you're in your early 20s.
Observing Watergate made writers want to feel their oats. I responded to the same kind of call as the hero in the song "W.O.L.D." Those are meant as call letters of course. Harry Chapin wrote the song with that name. Not an overwhelming hit on the charts but it did OK.
For me, anyway, the song must have stayed lodged in my consciousness.
Given the limitless opportunity to research with the Internet now, I can learn so much more background. I can learn so much beyond the "hook line" of the song. Sadly, many of us in the old days who consumed top 40 radio didn't glean much more than the "hook line." And so many of the songs had so much more to offer.
The songwriting profession in fact demands that songs have substance. Layers of meaning even. A cryptic message here and there. Ironically so much of this sails right over people's heads. And yes the songwriters stand firm. My own view is that a song simply has to "sound good." And the big problem there is that if you write what you think is a "catchy" melody, you are probably inadvertently copying a pre-existing melody.
The solution? Maybe it's to write a meandering sort of melody that isn't really a melody!
I'm starting to digress.
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| Harry Chapin |
Many of us like particular songs because we can relate to them. I was attracted to newspaper writing because of urges so similar to what the "W.O.L.D." protagonist felt. The guy loves being on radio and to be heard by people all over the place, people who may never see him in person.
Delusions of grandeur?
I was a post-Watergate writer/reporter who actually thought people like me ought to be seen as beacons of wisdom! Well, our "craft" had "won" for a long time, as we were credited with opening people's eyes to the necessity of getting the U.S. out of the Vietnam war. This was after the government used the press in the war's early stages. Then the media "woke up."
And we woke up to the nefarious wrongdoing of the Nixon administration. For some reason we didn't hear about lawsuits being filed all over the place, not like today! I'm almost scared as a near-anonymous blogger. Once your biases become known - and we all have biases - it can be Katy bar the door. Surely there is a chilling effect. Lawyers and money are guaranteed to do that.
But I was allowed to feel my oats through much of my career. I was much like the protagonist in "W.O.L.D." who just had a turn-on with being in media and having the broad public consume his work. Many people would be puzzled about such a lure, right? People have all kinds of personal interests and talents.
Chapin's song "W.O.L.D." is like a time capsule, as it reflects the influence that deejays had over popular music. The deejays had a transient quality, i.e. they moved around a lot according to whims with listeners' tastes. Radio stations would change "formats." Deejays would get the message to move along. Sounds like a big negative. But when someone has the "bug" for being on radio, well it's just an inconvenience. That's the guy in the song.
Or it might be me. I will always try to stay close to journalism in some manner.
"W.O.L.D." is a composite of the deejays that Chapin came to know. The guy in Chapin's song is getting a little long-of-tooth for his profession. The song has a message of how we can never change who we really are. The guy in song returns to his former home city and calls his ex-wife who is not receptive - she has moved on. I gather that instead of feeling crushed, the guy continues feeling vitality just from his calling, from having so many people hear him, people all over the place who he doesn't even know.
I think there is power in that. There is love in that. There is immense personal fulfillment in that. Enough to fill a deep personal void as with a failed relationship or marriage. I think so, yes.
So I remain at my typing keyboard. What a tragic end to Chapin's life. He died in a traffic accident on the Long Island Expressway in 1981. His widow is now chair of the Harry Chapin Foundation.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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