Songs From The 60's to The 60's

I started playing the guitar when I was in high school in the 1960's. My Uncle Sam and Aunt Irene gave me an old acoustic guitar that had belonged to my cousin. The metal strings chewed my fingers but I persevered.

The first song that I taught myself was Peter, Paul and Mary's "Puff the Magic Dragon." A few neighborhood friends and I formed a band that we called The Raving Mads.  We played a few songs at our own backyard party once and that was our only gig. The only song that I can remember having played was "My Baby Does the Hanky Panky."  Oddly enough, I played the drums. I didn't have an electric guitar then but we were able to borrow a set of drums that belonged to another neighbor.

In my first two years of college I joined a band called The Groovin' Tymes.  We played some bar jobs, a wedding, a frat party, a Home Coming Dance, and even a Bar Mitzvah.  It was fun and what little money we made covered pizza and guitar strings. I had a red, triple-pickup Silvertone guitar by then and played rhythm.

One member of The Groovin' Tymes, our bass player, Joe Dolister, actually became a professional musician.  You can read about him on joedolistermusic.com.  Lou Giacinti is a doctor.  He lives in Racine and teaches at Milwaukee Area Technical College.  I don't know what happened to Steve Shovers.  I Googled his name and found a listing in an online genealogy page, but there was no information other than his date and place of birth.

After college I played the guitar and sang with a group that did the music for the Folk Mass at the Catholic Center in Madison.  I guess I was the token Protestant.  In addition to the regular masses we also put on events like performing music from Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. That lasted for a couple years and I still keep in touch with some friends that I made in that group. The high point of that time was singing a song at the mass in which Eric was baptized.

Most of the songs that I play are covers of some of my favorites like The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Jim Croce, etc. I don't play very well but I still enjoy it after more than 40 years. Every once in a while I get an idea for a song. They just come to me, often in the shower in the morning. Some ideas fade away as fast as the water drains away and others keep bouncing around in my head, eventually turning into whistled tunes that finally attach themselves to words and become songs.

If you know me you know that my songs, for the most part, are musically quite simple and lyrically funny or absurd. Some of my songs are inspired by that vacation spot located North of the Tension Line -- Washington Island. Some of my songs come to me when the political scene bugs me. Sometimes I accidentally come up with something that I think is kind of pretty. But I'm not exactly an objective reviewer.

When I decided to post some of my songs on MadisonAndersons.com, I needed a title for my song page. A recent birthday handed it to me. On July 22, 2008, despite my repeated denials, I hit the age of 60.

If you're feeling brave or curious or desperate to escape from all of those crappy reality shows on TV, click on a song title below and you'll be taken to a page with song lyrics and an mp3 player if you want to play the song.