The other day I saw old-fashioned record players at Books-A-Million and recalled the Christmas in 1972 when Santa brought me a case record player and an Elvis album, the soundtrack to “Stay Away Joe.” Not long after, I succumbed to the lure of Elton John, Cher, The Carpenters, the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, Donny Osmond and more.
Some of the songs I owned on 45-rpm records were:
- “Sing” with “Druscilla Penny” on the B side, the Carpenters
- “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves,” Cher
- “Crocodile Rock,” Elton John
- “Ben,” Michael Jackson
- “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” Roberta Flack
- “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” Tony Orlando and Dawn
- “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” Vicki Lawrence
- “Frankenstein,” The Edgar Winter Group
- “Delta Dawn,” Helen Reddy
- “Billy Don’t be a Hero,” Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods
- “The Night Chicago Died,” Paper Lace
- … and many more.
Which ones did you have?
KellyKazek.com 
When these songs were popular, I was in high school, had a job after school, and had bought a stereo system with my own money. My parents sprung for a Panasonic cassette tape deck for Christmas. State of the art tech back then. I recorded a lot of these songs off the FM radio, borrowed friends’ records or borrowed records from the library and recorded them. I had a blast with it. I had a few 45’s but not many, I was more of an album freak. A boyfriend introduced me to the Record Club of America, and the albums were cheap, only about $4.00 apiece, and you got several for free when you joined. Same for Columbia House a few years later. I still have all my albums, and the stereo receiver and speakers still work, but the cassette deck and turntable died. I recently bought a new turntable that can connect to a computer, so I can transfer all the music to a hard drive. But vinyl has actually made a comeback, so I’ll probably still keep all the records. Many are probably collectors’ items by now!
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Great memories! I’m glad you gave taken the time to comment on several posts this weekend. Thanks for reading.
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