My younger sister turned 58 this past week.
Yes, on April Fool’s Day:
(…the bane of many jokes through the years.)
But this year, the joke was on me:
I had let March slip by. It was midmorning March 31 before I realized I had no idea how I was going to recognize my sister’s birthday.
Then, I had a wild idea. I could work together with Casey Kasem:
We’d team up to give her a birthday present that she – and I – would never forget.
My sister is about four years younger than I am. We have a brother who is a year younger than me and three years older than her. Through the years, she and I have been close. We even shared an apartment for a few years in our 20s.
Of course, we had our share of sibling squabbles. She thought I got away with everything because I was the oldest and a boy; I thought she had my dad wrapped around her finger. But underneath it all were a lot of laughter and shared memories.
I knew AT40 could get at all of that, with a little help from some family recordings.
My sister and her friends used to do news show parodies on her little Panasonic tape recorder.
I managed to preserve some of those digitally.
I also had a recording of two of our friends and I doing a karaoke recording of Huey Lewis and the News’ “The Heart of Rock and Roll.”
I knew I could work that in.
And when we were teenagers, one of my oldest friends did a sequel to Dickie Goodman’s “Mr. Jaws.” I knew I could include his “Mr. Jaws Returns” after Goodman’s recording. All it would take was time to edit. Fortunately, I was on spring break so I had all the time I wanted to use. That is, to meet a midnight deadline and get it to my sister at the start of her birthday.
As I pulled these songs together, I found myself heading back in time and enjoying the moments.
1975:
When my brother and I got in trouble by scaring my sister and her friend by playing the “Theme from ‘Jaws’” from underneath her bed and jumping out yelling, “JAWS!”
They ran down the hallway of our apartment screaming, and a neighbor had a stern talk with my father when he got home. He then had a stern one with us.
1976:
Remembering “The Dreamers” concert that I wrote about here.
All the songs from that set list – “Silly Love Songs,” “Today’s the Day,” “More, More, More” – made the countdown. Unfortunately, we didn’t record that concert so I couldn’t include our voices. (My cousins probably appreciate that!)
1979:
When my sister briefly thought “Ring My Bell” was an extended commercial for the telephone company.
I don’t care for the song, but I love that story. So it made the countdown.
1982 and 1985:
When I came home for spring break from IU-Bloomington telling my sister about songs that hadn’t yet gotten to South Bend, first “Tainted Love” and then “Walking on Sunshine.”
The early 1990s:
When a friend of mine who was as much of a George Michael fan as my sister invited her to his concert in Chicago.
My sister was so excited by the performance that she jumped in the car and popped in a George Michael CD. Problem was, there was already a CD in the player and she jammed it for the trip home. (My friend was a good sport about it, and it was fixed without much ado.) Both “Faith” and “I Want Your Sex” made the cut.
1992:
When my brother, sister and I did a recording for my mom’s 50th birthday.
- My sister dedicated “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” to her. That was included, along with the song I dedicated, Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.”
- “Disco Lucy” was included because my paternal grandmother’s name was Lucy.
- “Makin’ It” made the grade because one of our cousins loved it but had a bad habit of taping over parts of it whenever it was on one of our cassette collections.
I made sure that my sister’s favorite artists – Joan Jett, Shaun Cassidy, Anne Murray, Melissa Etheridge, Styx, Prince, REO Speedwagon and Olivia Newton-John among them – were included. And one of her favorites, Barbra Streisand, was at the top with – what else? – “The Way We Were.”
As much fun as I had putting it all together, there was an extra I knew I had to have. And it was going to take some work.
Growing up, my sister hated Jessi Colter’s “I’m Not Lisa,” chiefly because my brother and I taunted her with it all the time.
I knew I had to include it, but not as a taunt. Using the editing tools, I created “I’m Not Julie.” (Here’s a snippet – not the most sophisticated edit ever, but it did the job.
(Here’s a snippet – not the most sophisticated edit ever, but it did the job.
I finished at 2:30 AM. April 1, shared the files with her in Google Drive, and awaited her response.
It came that night – she had only heard 10 minutes of the last hour (10–1 coming up for her before the other takes) and couldn’t wait to tell me how much she loved it.
Two nights later, we finally got the chance to talk for an hour. She said she wondered why I included the Colter song she hated so –
– until she realized Colter wasn’t singing “I’m Not Lisa.”
Much of the hour we spent remembering the stories the music brought back.
It was a great conversation. I realized our relationship is the gift.
Casey Kasem’s special countdown simply affirmed it.
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Views: 61
Beautiful story and what a thoughtful and incredible gift.
Music is a great gift, especially when it means something. Well done!
“not the most sophisticated edit ever…”
I thought it worked perfectly!
What a great big brother. Lovely stuff.
What a lovely gift. Those memories are so special.
Lovely