My Three Songs

"Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take you/ Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama." - "Kokomo" by The Beach Boys

After dropping the girls off at school this morning, I was flipping through radio stations in their way cool minivan (I drive that thing four times as much as my Mustang, which actually is cool!) and came across three songs that instantly transported me back to the eighties. If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was wearing my purple Converse All-Stars, bicycle shorts (c'mon, it was the times!) tons of plastic jelly bracelets, and rocking a side ponytail with a day-glow scrunchie.

First up, "Kokomo". Man, I loved that song! I think I spent most of 1989 singing it, including recording my own versions on my portable tape player. Yeah, I know exactly how awesome I was. This song was summer, the beach, and best of all, was sung by The Beach Boys and John Stamos (Uncle Jesse!) on "Full House", my favorite show as a kid. What could be better?

I am a constant flipper of radio stations, so as soon as "Kokomo" ended, I hit the next button and started singing along to Paula Abdul's "Straight Up". What little girl didn't love Paula back in the 80s? She had catchy songs that were fun to dance to, even if I thought my choreography might have been just a little better than hers. I was a very confident, if not deluded child.

Paula gave way to some stupid song I didn't care to hear, so I changed the station and, I'm seriously not making this up, I heard the song stylings of New Kids on the Block, singing "Hangin' Tough"! I don't think I've heard that song on the radio in about twenty years (boy do I feel old!), but there it was, in all of its 80s glory. Wow. I will admit, the New Kids were one of my very first obsessions. I was the six-year-old with the t-shirts, cassettes, VHS music video, even a beach towel featuring the New Kids. Joey McIntyre was by far my favorite. Now, I find their music absolutely hilarious, but back then, I sang loud and proud. Today, I started singing but then just burst out laughing.

So, those are the three songs I heard today that reminded me of my childhood. What a blast from the past!