Wait has she been around for THAT long?

Every now and then I hear a song on the radio that brings back a memory from my childhood. Most recently, I heard this "oldie" from Janet Jackson that I used to sing in Junior High.



See, I always loved to sing, basically ever since I could speak. When I was no more than 4-5 I remember I used to take my mom's cassette recorder into her room and just sing a whole bunch of crap into it. I actually think that tape might be in my house somewhere if the sands of time have not decomposed it by now. I guess you could say that was the beginning of my musical journey (unless you're counting me singing the chorus to "Elvira" as a baby.. haha). I was always recording myself singing for as long as I can remember. The singing wasn't good, mind you, but it didn't matter, I just loved doing it.

Fast forward to junior high. This is going to really show my age but I remember I begged for a cassette walkman for Christmas and, much to my delight, got one. For some reason, I also had a Janet Jackson tape. I'm pretty sure my parents didn't buy me this (haha), but I'm thinking I had made a copy of one of my cousin's tapes. I freakin loved that tape and I was always singing along to it. Wait, I meant to say that I was always singing along to it in the confines of my room, with the door shut, or off in the orchard somewhere where I could be certain that not another soul could hear me! I even remember that one day, I got this bright idea that I could bring a cassette recorder into the storage room down in the basement of our house and record myself singing "Miss You Much", because, you know, a 3x8 room (or whatever it was) full of glass jars and canned goods makes a super awesome recording studio! Why, I was gonna kick butt at that Janet Jackson song! So there I was sitting in that tiny storage room listening to "Miss You Much" on the walkman, singing into a tape recorder. Folks, let me tell you, that recording turned out SO BAD... lol. It wasn't even necessarily because of the tools I used to make the recording, but the fact that I was gasping for breath and the singing was a barely audible whisper. I was terrified to even let myself be heard on my own personal recording! I wonder what ever happened to that tape. My guess is that I probably recorded myself singing over it, doing 2 part harmony with myself, because that's the way I roll.

But see, thats the thing about those old songs that makes them so awesome. I think back when I hear that song and I remember how thrilled I was, as a kid, be the superstar of the storage room. The best part is singing along to the song now and smiling at how far I've come. :*)