"Play the Brothers"

This is simply about singing along with.......outside of the required church stuff.

I probably sang All you have to do is Dream about 500 times when it was released in 1958.  I had just turned 12 and was beginning my first and last Little League season.  Of course later I would have a 16 year Little League experience but coaching and playing are world's apart.

Dream, dream, dream, dream
Dream, dream, dream, dream

I had my first girlfriend at the age of 12 and although she was an older woman of 15 I'm pretty sure she liked my voice.  I recall that she liked my Elvis imatations and never told me to shut up when I sang. I realized later that she only liked me becasue I had a horse, but when one is 12 and playing center field it's hard to recognize female deception.  Actually, I'm still fully capable of being fooled by a beautiful woman and still dreaming that it might happen.

When I want you in my arms
When I want all your charms
Whenever I want you, all I have to do is
Dream, dream, dream, dream

In July of 1958 King Creole was released.  It was playing with April Love.  In 1958 you got a cartoon or two and two features and I remember that my new babe and I were driven to the theater by my mom.  April Love played first and then King Creole.  At that point I was a big Elvis fan but after that movie he literally took over as "King."   It turns out that Elvis regarded King Creole as his favorite of the 31 films he made and I am in total agreement.  But I still had a girl and I still was dreamin.

When I feel blue in the night
And I need you to hold me tight
Whenever I want you, all I have to do is
Dream

In 1958 Gigi won the Academy Award for best picture.  I always thought mom named my sister Gigi because of the movie but since she was born in 1952 I have to assume that's not true......and it still amazes me how perceptive I can be.  DUH might have been invented for me.

 

I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine

anytime night or day

only trouble is, gee whiz

I'm dreamin my life away

 

Elvis was the King but right behind at court was Ricky Nelson and the Everly Brothers.  They had the hair and they had the sing-a-long-songs. Ricky was 18 and had simply been the most popular kid on TV since 1952.  Ricky Nelson from the age of 12 to 16 had the last laugh and the last word everytime he spoke on the Ozzie and Harriet Show.  In 1958 Ricky released his first single...Poor Little Fool.  Elvis had gone into the army in March so Ricky took over and once a week on TV we could watch him do a song and show that slow blink maneuver. 

 

I need you so that I could die

I love you so and that is why

Whenever I want you, all I have to do is

Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream

Dream

 

In 1958 The Dodgers played their first season in Los Angeles at the Memorial Coliseum and finished 7th place in the National League.....back when there were 8 teams.  I remember being able to listen to the young announcer on my portable radio in my backyard with a Louisville Slugger in my hand. The fact that in three months (God Willing) I will be able to still hear Vin Scully announce a Dodger game makes everything seem ok....and slighty bizzare at the same time.

 

KIND OF LIKE..................... LIFE.

 

I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine

Anytime night or day

Only trouble is, gee whiz

I'm dreamin my life away

 

I have so many fond memories of my 12 year old season and singing along with Elvis, Ricky and the Everly Brothers just stands out.  I'm fairly certain that my older chick dumped me sometime in the fall for my friend Howard Herrick because I recall him wanting to punch out my lights when I rode my horse up her driveway and Christmas lights were shinning. It was the end of two relationships....and it's so odd how that pattern continued into my adulthood.

 

I Rode my horse up her driveway could be a new porno title, don't you think?

 

 I need you so that I could die

I love you so and that is why

Whenever I want you, all I have to do is

Dream, dream, dream, dream

Dream, dream, dream, dream

Dream, dream, dream, dream

 

On February 3rd 1959 a plane crashed and the music died......but that's another entire history lesson that Don McClean expressed much better than I ever could.

 

I remember being home from school that day with the Chicken Pox.......and little did I realize that 35 years later the music really would die for me.

 

I accept the fact that February 3rd 1994 is the by far and away the absolute worst day of my life but one thing I am able to do is

dream

dream

dream

 

and remember

 

When Lily was two and three years old (1988-89) I would take her back to her mom's house in Topanga Canyon after a weekend. It was a 40 minute drive from Santa Monica. During the spring there was Sean and his baseball (and yes my baseball too, as coach) and his time with her at my house is such a special memory for me. He was 7 years older and a perfect older brother.

 

Everytime I would drive her home she would sit in her car seat and simply say in that little tiny precious girl's voice.....

 

"Play the brothers"  with a little brooklyn accent as only 2 and 1/2 year old can do.

 

I would find the Best of the Everly Brothers cassette and Lily would listen to me sing-a-long and she would slowly start to hum....put her thumb in her mouth........and fall fast asleep.

 

And all I have to do is

Dream

dream

dream.......

 

Michael Timothy McAlevey