Music and Family

Interviewee: Stephen T. Sawyer (born: August 16, 1952)

Interviewer: Miranda Mims Sawyer

What kind of music did you listen to as a child?

Well let’s see.  I listened to soul music, classical, rock and roll.

Do you have an example of those?

I liked to listen to Tijuana brass, Chicago, Sam and Dave, Wilson Picket, and Percy Sledge.

What’s the first type of music that you can remember listening to as a child?

Probably gospel.  On Sunday mornings.

Did you go to church or hear it on the radio?

I would hear it on the radio, in church and on television. They were all filled on Sundays with gospel music.

And that's what your parents liked to watch?

(mm-hmm)

Did you ever go out dancing to any of the music you like to listen to?

Yea, when I was a kid in grammar school and high school. We used to have sock hops.

Sock hops?

Sock hops.

What kind of music would they play there? 50’s?

50’s and 60’s. They played a lot of the old music like "Run Away Girl", and a groups like that from the late 50’s , early 60’s. But they had bands. We would go, and take our shoes off in the gymnasium and go dance.

Was it all live music?

(mm-hmm)

 That's pretty cool. So do you think that  what you listened to was the acceptable music of that time?

Oh, back then all the older generation didn't like it at all, especially rock and roll,  and Elvis.  They were more Frank Sinatra, Perry Cumo, Bing Crosby and all those guys.  But yea, that was a big deal when Elvis started and the black music had a lot to do with it too.

Right because that's where he got a lot of his music from.

Yes, that's were a lot of it came from. But Soul music was a big thing.

Did your parents try to keep you from listening to it?

No, they'd just say “Turn it down.” My mother used to get confused, (back then I listened to a lot of Aretha Franklin and Wilson Picket) and holler at me and say  “ Turn down that Aretha Wilson music.”  She would always get them mixed up.

Wasn't Wilson picket a man?

(mm-hmm)

She couldn't tell the difference?

She just didn't pay attention to the names. She just knew that she didn't appreciate all the loud music. She didn't really listen to music.

No?

She was a reader. She would read all the time. She liked it quiet.

Did you play any instruments?

I played clarinet in grammar school and we started a little band and I played bass. (Mimes playing bass, “dom dom dom dom dom”)

So you played bass?

Yea, and mamma didn't sing tenor.

Did your band play in public or was it just for fun?

We played at a couple little sock hops.

What were you called?

The Trademarks. Hang on Sloopy was one of our favorite songs if that gives you an idea of the kind of music we played. We played covers, nothing original.

Did you get paid?

(haha) We got in.

I know you said something about listening to African American music, but other than that, do you think you were exposed to any other cultural music that wasn't your own?

Well, I liked a lot of the earthy gospel and you know like the "Mamas and the Papas". The late 60’s, early 70’s groups back during the war, the Vietnam war." Simon and Garfunkel", "Jefferson Airplane".

Do you feel you liked these bands because of the message that they were trying to get across?

Yea, it was a big deal. The war was a big deal. I mean the general public was totally against it.

Do you feel like the music that they played this is a good representation of that era or your generation?

A lot of it did. Woodstock was a big example.

What kind of influence did music have on you?

I liked soul music because I liked to dance to it. I used to go to a lot of dances to meet girls.

Now when you say dance what kind of dancing do you mean?

Back then it was line dancing, fast dancing; we did the Boogaloo and other stuff.

Do you feel like that genre was better for dancing than the others?

I think it had its own rhythm to that beat. It wasn't jumping up and down and twirling and all that but it was more dancing to the beat and line dancing.

Did you see African American bands, or just reproductions of their music by Caucasian people?

Oh I used to go, those were the groups I would watch. There would be an auditorium show with 5 or 6 African American bands at one time. “black bands”. All at one time there would be , Sam and Dave, Wilson Picket, Percy Sledge, I cant remember them all. But they would play one after the other.

What kinds of crowds were there?

Mostly black. They were wild. They would get in their seats, they would dance in their seats.

Did you feel out of place?

We were out of place. We were tokens.

Did they treat you like outsiders?

No, everyone just had a good time. There were a lot of drunks, because pint and half pint bottles would fly out of the crowd. A lot of people got hit down on the floor.

Do you think if you hadn’t got to those shows and been exposed to that music, you would have turned out differently?

I think it had a lot to do with it , but I don't know if it  was the music or the times. I think the times had a lot to do with the way we all turned out. The music reflected the times and the times were very unstable. I mean a song that was real popular that was about a tragedy was: "Four dead in Ohio”, it was almost like a riot. It was about students protesting the war and they got killed for doing it. And Woodstock was a big deal too.

Do you think that the music from that time period helped shape the face of music up until now? Do you think that it was an important aspect?

Yea, sure. There were all different sorts of music, like bubble gum music, of course you didn't have rap, there wasn't such a thing, but there was a lot of instrumental music that I liked. I always liked brass and string bands too.

Do you think that music now a day is a lot different, as far as what it means?

Yea, I don't hear as many songs that have much of a story, except maybe country.

Do you think that it's a story worth hearing?

In some cases it is, and some it isn’t. Country music is more about heartbreak between a man and a woman. But back then it had a lot more to do about not going to war, and how we shouldn't be there, because we were just dying for no reason. And nobody wanted to go, nobody supported it. There were crooked politicians. I know there always crooked politicians, but when head of the country is called out, then you know you got a problem.  The music then was all about freedom. Psychedelic and freedom of choice, freedom for everyone to do what they wanted. The hippie scene coming out of California spreading throughout the country had a large impact on me, especially in my early teens.

Do you think it was successful as far as the era?

I think it molded. The same people then aren’t the same now.

Do you think that this musical scene lead to the way to were we are today?

I think it all builds. We are all some of our own experiences.  What goes around comes around, but it seems like it was more innocent back then. Everything was more innocent, more earthy.

Do you have any thing that you want the younger generation to take away from your experiences with music throughout your life?

Just slow down, and listen to the things around you and the music that's there. Live in the day and don't let it pass you by. Go back and listen to older music and maybe you can learn something. I think all that music back then is worth listening to, you can always get  something from it.

So you think that that music is still releant?

A lot of it is. You know now it's a different war, but its still war.