Standards, what standards?

If I could go back in time twenty to twenty five years ago, and I told my younger self that I'd be listening to Frank Sinatra more than Van Halen, I'd would've thought a crazy old man was telling crazy stories.  I started my listening of crooners all quite innocently.  For the first few years of my marriage I was a part time rural carrier, and a full time house husband.  My wife worked full time and I tried my best to take care of the house and kids the best I could.  While doing house work (especially laundry), I would turn my PC on, turn on Pandora and pick out something that would suit me.  One day, I decided to create a Bobby Darin station on Pandora.  Anybody that knows Pandora, it can be quite a crap shoot when it comes to what songs or artists will play on said station.  That day it was quite different, a lot of Sinatra was played, Dean Martin, and various crooners of that era.  One day it dawned on me that the difference between these guys and a lot of the "pop" music out there today, is that these guys could sing. No effects, no digital improvements,  just their voice.  It was them singing their hearts out.  I'm not saying that there is not talent or passion out there today, but it shows less than back then.  Listening to Sinatra recordings from the forties is something to behold.  His voice is just so good.  Granted as he got older his voice and his phrasing became quite different, but when he was younger he was always money.

I can't leave Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. out either.  Dean was quite the entertainer, and although he's got great songs, his interaction with Frank on stage is what I find the most entertaining.  Sammy Davis also has a great voice, yet I don't listen to him as much as the others. I don't think my music tastes have changed, I just think I expanded what I listen too.

As I've gotten older, I have learned to appreciate the past and what it means to us in the present and the future.  I haven't blogged in quite awhile, and in acutality started this post a few months ago.  I am thinking about just picking songs and telling what they mean to me, how I hear them.  Thank you for reading and I will be blogging more, (I hope) in the future.