‘You Send Me‘ 1957 by Sam Cooke

My Real Memoir

It was the day I discovered music. But I wouldn’t realize it until years later. True, I liked music, thanks in large part to my Uncle Walt (Disney). I danced along with the Mouseketeers and, like every other kid in the Disneyverse, wore my coonskin cap when I sang along to the Davy Crockett theme. But I didn’t make music, and I had no impulse to do so–yet. My first love was stories, particularly in the form of movies.

Movies and Music

We usually popcorned at our local suburban bijou, the Meralta. The first movies I saw there, again from Uncle Walt, had memorable music, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Peter Pan, The Great Locomotive Chase. I’d turn my Radio Flyer wagon into a locomotive or Captain Nemo’s Nautilus. Or I’d race about with my arms outstretched, singing “You Can Fly” from Peter Pan, and desperately hoping that, despite my dearth of pixie dust, I would finally achieve lift-off.

That summer I’d fallen in love with Debbie Reynolds in Tammy and the Bachelor at the Meralta, and left the theatre with its hit theme song on perpetual repeat in my head. Little did I know that music and Debbie would play co-starring roles in my future.

It Was the Last Time…

…I would see a movie at the Meralta, and the first time I would experience live music. Not surprisingly, we’d come to see a musical The Pajama Game (which would also reappear in my life later on). “But before the movie begins,” the theater manager announced, “you’re in for an unusual treat, a live musical performance!” And then he welcomed an unknown singer, a handsome young guy (Mom noted) named Sam Cooke.

Sam plugged his electric guitar into something that looked like a really big radio, an amplifier. I’d never seen or heard of either. It looked nothing like the four-string “Mousegetar” Jimmy Dodd played on the Mickey Mouse Club. Sam started with a tune he’d written, one that would become a landmark in music history.

Sam Sent Me…

…to a place I’d never been before. “You Send Me” was one of the first songs ever to crossover from R&B onto popular music charts, and is still considered one of the 500 greatest songs of the 20^th century. Sam sang two more tunes that night, including his soulful take on Gershwin’s “Summertime” (he also pioneered soul music). And then, we were all given free copies of his first 45 release, featuring both songs!

I played that 45 until the grooves wore off. But the real “groove” never wore off. My first exposure to live music had introduced me to one of the greatest singer/songwriters in music history. Sam Cooke planted a seed in me for a new love. Music would live in my heart alongside stories and movies for the rest of my life. And a decade later, the seed and need that Sam had planted that night…

Would become a full-grown sapling.