Phil Nee
By 1972 I realized that I was not the fastest, smartest, or best-looking member of my school. The other defining factor of elementary school hierarchy in rural Wisconsin was how big your dad’s tractor was, how many large silos your farm had, or if your family milked the most cows. Young Philip finished last in nearly all of those categories. What he did discover that Spring was that any attention was better than no attention. It did not matter if they were laughing with you or at you. I also could sing nearly every popular song of the time and could lead the bus in a rendition of the Partridge Family television theme. Even though our biggest tractor on the farm only had 48 horsepower on a good day, I was starting to get noticed by my peers. Mother also started to get occasional phone calls from Ithaca schools. She was a former one room schoolteacher and negative feedback about her son did not go over well. When she realized that spanking, grounding, or washing my mouth with Zest soap would not work, she came to the conclusion that I would straighten up if she waved a vinyl record under my nose. For just a 69-cent investment at the Dime Store, she could encourage my weekly good behavior. It was a true Mother and Child Reunion! In the Spring of 1972, records that made me behave included: Heart of Gold-Neil Young, Lion Sleeps Tonight-Robert John, The Family of Man-Three Dog Night, Baby Blue-Badfinger, Oh Girl-Chi-Lites, Nice to Be With You-Gallery, Down By the Lazy River-Osmonds, Back Off Boogaloo-Ringo Starr, and Rockin Robin-Michael Jackson.
Saturday night during WRCOs’ Those Were the Days radio show, I will be spinning some of the spring of 1972 highlights. I hope you will join me for all of the vintage hits on Saturday night between six and midnight on FM 100.9, WRCO.com or the Civic Media app. I hope you enjoyed the ‘cowbell’ classics last weekend. Let’s have some fun this weekend.
Philip James Nee
