Posted on 07/11/2020 7:19:53 AM PDT by SamAdams76
I was driving with a younger relative this morning and had on the Sirius/XM 70's station in which Casey Kasem was counting down the Top 40 from the week of 7/12/75.
One of the songs in the countdown was "Please Mr. Please" by Olivia Newton-John in which she urges a fellow bar-fly not to play a certain song on the bar-room jukebox as it reminded her of an old love.
So as she repeatedly sings the verse "Please, Mr., please, don't play B-17", my young relative eventually pipes up to ask me what she means by "B-17". Is it the name of a song that was popular back then?
I then explained that there used to be a contraption called a jukebox that had several stacks of records in them that were usually placed in bars and casual restaurants at the time in which people could drop in a quarter and play three songs of their choice. Each song was numbered accordingly to order of the stack that it was placed in. So "B-17" would be the 17th record in the second stack. So if that record was selected, it would be mechanically pulled out of the stack and dropped into the queue (of records to be played).
It was actually a marvelous display of technology for the times. There was something magical about dropping a quarter, selecting your song and then listening to them play for the entire crowd.
Of course, all of that seems absolutely primitive to the younger generations, who have immediate access to millions of songs on their phone devices.
That’s me!
I admire how you responded. You just informed the relative. Good to encourage people to ask questions.
80s pop hit
Don’t put another dime in the jukebox
I don’t wanna hear that song any more
Country hit, Joe Diffie(?)
Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die
Chuck Berry
Drop the coin right into the slot
You wanna hear something that’s really hot
70s, 80s, even 90s I recall jukeboxes on tables in diners or a Papa Gino’s type Italian restaurant.Flip through song selections on a rolodex type setup.
Current hits, oldies, country
After awhile they were like computerized mp3 players.You could pick songs.
‘60s pretty much stunk. Glad I barely missed having to be aware of hippies and their commie ilk.
The sound quality and volume was better back then. I have a 1950s phone i hooked up a few years ago and it was amazing how loud and clear it was.
John Anderson—’Straight Tequilla Night’
Reference to K 13 on the jukebox.
or what it means to roll down a window
I love watching Law and Order as it is a playback of tech for the 20 years from 1990 to 2010. They went from calling in to pagers to cell phones to Blackberries and Palm Pilots to PDAs.
They grappled with Internet crime, ID theft, hacking and glitches.
The work tech went from dumb terminals to IBM PCs to wired portable PCs to wireless laptops.
It is like watching those critical decades in tech go by in fast motion from an everyday lens.
Some references in movies, music, young
people may not get
In Yellow Submarine movie
“Are you blu-ish? You don’t look blu-ish”
(”Funny, he doesn’t look Jewish”)
Ever listened to “Jukebox Saturday Night” by Glenn Miller?
>>That’s from back when children were used as remote controls for the TV.<<
Or rabbit ears holders. “to the left. no, another step. hold it up higher. no, higher! Put your right leg up. Perfect! Stay like that!”
If there was a option i think I could go back to 1980s....but would miss a few modern “conveniences” like being able to download 1000’s of videos on a device no bigger than my thumb.
Or, communicating with people from everywhere ..like FR or playing Words With Friends with family and friends hundreds of miles away.
I can, and do go for long stretches, without a cell phone.
Haven’t had one for over a year now.
Have a 20-something niece that will watch it whenever it's on.
My Dad was the tail gunner in one of those. Spent some time in a POW camp.
And pretty Olivia sang the lyrics clearly and precisely...
In the corner of the bar there stands a jukebox
With the best of country music, old and new
You can hear your five selections for a quarter
And somebody else’s songs when yours are through
I got good Kentucky whiskey on the counter
And my friends around to help me ease the pain
‘Til some button pushin’ cowboy plays that lovesong
And here I am just missing you again
Chorus:
Please Mr. please, don't play b-17
It was our song, it was his song, but it's over
Please Mr. please, if you know what I mean
I don't ever wanna hear that song again
If I had a dime for every time I held you
Though you're far away, you've been so close to me
I could swear I'd be the richest girl in Nashville
Maybe even in the state of Tennessee
But I guess I'd better get myself together
‘cause when you left, you didn't leave too much behind
Just a note that said “I'm sorry”, by your picture
And a song that's weighing heavy on my mind
(chorus)
I heard someone say, “When I was a kid we had to trudge through 10 feet of shag carpet just to turn the channels.”
Some of us did not recognize how fast and how much things were going to change. I went from hand written reports from a scratchy phone call and SSB radios, 5 different radios and mobile phones in my car, buying the very first PC and Apple SE30 and laptop a Grid for a major oil company and a slide rule in college.
When we visit my mom, we eat at a restaurant she and Dad went to when they were dating (they were married in 1945). It still has the punched tin ceiling, and every booth has its own jukebox.
THAT is old.
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