The Devil On My Little White Radio
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Artist:
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Track:LA Woman
I'm sitting here in front of my Denon AVR 2800 receiver, and I can't figure out why it won't stay in the quad stereo mode. Probably because it's outdated.In 1973, I had a little white AM radio, with gold trim on the two knobs. One knob was the on/off/volume and the other was for tuning. Bedtime meant lights out, but for me, it also meant surfing up and down the dial.WTAC in Flint Michigan was the top forty station to listen to back then. That was my primary station, but the signal would fade in and out in the middle of songs, and I would have to stand up on my bed, hold the radio as high as I could to maintain the reception for a song that I really liked.Nearly every night I fell asleep with that radio playing, usually with my hand still on the tuning knob. Often, the songs would incorporate themselves into my dreams. I remember songs like Cher's "Dark Lady", Vicky Lawrence's "The Night That The Lights Went Out In Georgia" and especially Stevie Wonder's "Living For The City" invading my perfectly pleasant dreams, and turning them into nightmares of twisters and car wrecks.The most frightening song was scary not because of lyrical content, but because of instrumentation. The song was "LA Woman", by The Doors. I was on the verge of sleep the first time I heard the opening of that song. The distorted guitar plucked at the top with that great spring reverb followed by the tinkling of piano keys sounded like the devil himself was coming to rock me deeper into sleep. And once that driving beat of the rhodes and ride cymbol start, there's no stopping him. He's going to make me dream of screaming children on a blood red playground. And when I hear his voice, all deep and dark with words too garbled for young ears to understand, I'll wet the sheets.I can't listen to that song today without being reminded of that night. I'm not sure what I dreamed of back then, but I do know I woke up terrified, and had to crawl into mom's bed.All of that sound came out of my cheap, little white AM radio with one speaker. That's the power of great music.
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