2:55

"I can see me lovin' nobody but you for all my life."  Happy Together

1966 and 1967 must have  been very hopeful years for me.  Often while listening to 60s music on Spotify, I learn that the songs that fill me with the most joy were released during those two years.In '66 and '67 I was in the 7th and 8th grades at the Enterprise Junior High.  The school is directly across a side street from where my grandmother and aunt lived.  I road my bicycle less than a mile to school and I walked across a side street every day to eat lunch at the home of my grandmother and aunt.  They were always glad to see me and I was glad to share lunch with them.

In the 8th grade I didn't have a  girl friend.  I had had two.  My first girlfriend and I were friends in the 5th and 6th grades. We had been in the same class for several years, but the sparks flew in the 5th grade.  I had no idea how to express my feelings, but I had deep feelings just the same.  Did we ever kiss?  Are you kidding!  We never even held hands. And yet there was something between us. So much that years later, after we both were married, her mother said  "I thought you would be my son-in-law". We only had one date.  On a half day, my best friend, his girlfriend, my girlfriend and I walked downtown and had lunch together at The Sweet Shop.  He and I sat on one side of the table and the girls sat on the other. But for a sixth grader it was exciting all the same.

In the 7th grade, for reasons I don't remember, I moved on to someone else.  I liked this girlfriend a lot too.  And she had horses !  We spent many afternoons riding her two horses all around Enterprise, Alabama. That summer my trombone and I made the award-winning Enterprise High School Marching Band as a rising 8th grader.The friendship with that girlfriend ended early in my 8th grade year. I got rather affectionate with her best friend on the band bus coming home from a football game late one Friday night. And that was that.  I missed my girlfriend. And I missed those horses ! I hardly ever spoke to either girl again. The wages of sin.

The 8th grade gave me time to reflect on the meaning of life and the responsibility of having a girlfriend.  But something else happened that year. Since I couldn't drive at 14  years old, I must have been in my parents' car when a song played.  That song became my favorite song and continues to be a touchstone of happiness for me  today. I already loved The Association from "Cherish" the previous year, but "Windy" had me from the first note. I immediately fell in love.  I not only fell in love with the song, but I fell in love with Windy. If you know the song you know that Windy is a sprite and not a person, but that didn't matter.  I was smitten. I eventually bought the 45, but it was when it randomly played on the radio that I enjoyed it the most. How could one song about an ethereal fairy fill me with so much happiness? How can it still?

About a year ago I was reading about Windy's history while listening to The Association on Spotify. I learned that the song was written by a  young woman named Ruthann Friedman. Ruthann was born in the Bronx and became a formidable musician in her own right.  In San Francisco her friends included the members of Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin. She also became friends with Van Dyke Parks. In time his collaborations included The Beach Boys, The Byrds and Randy Newman. She enjoyed all those significant relationships, but it was  Parks who introduced her to The Association. This band recorded and released Windy in 1967.  It was a hit! Within a few days, the song rose to #4 on the Billboard Top 100. And it rose to #1 in my heart.

I enjoy following Google article links to see where they lead me.  That morning a year ago that trail led me to Ruthann Friedman's email address.  I wrote her a short note expressing what her song had meant to me over my life.  To my joy and delight I received a  nice reply thanking me for my words and  that I had made her day! I treasure that email to this day.

In 1967 The Turtles released Happy Together. Since I had no other girlfriend,  I guess you could say that it was mine and Windy's lovesong. Well it was as far as I was concerned anyway. Windy didn't have horses, but she could fly !