Nobody really doesn’t work in a post caller-id world.

July 26, 2007 – 10:02 pm |

I never really got into Debbie Gibson or Tiffany. But it’s not because I missed the bubble gum pop days of my 80’s youth. I just came at them a little sooner, and from a little different direction on the radio dial. For me there was no Electric Youth. I dedicated all my pre-teen pop love to Sylvia.

At about 10, when I was gravitating away from my parents’ albums and starting to choose for myself, I played Sylvia’s Snapshot and One Step Closer cassette tapes over and over, and I choreographed elaborate hula-hoop/jazz dance routines in which I would direct my sister to perform. (Indeed, if only I had video, I’m certain our recreation of the civil war through hula-hoop dance to the powerfully rocking Bobby’s in Vicksburg was something to behold. (For those of you who may not be familiar with Sylvia’s work, the refrain: “the cannons roll like thunder, the South is going under, and ooh ooh Bobby’s in VICKSBURG.”))

Before Shania Twain was grappling with her name change, before Carrie Underwood was even born, Sylvia was lollipopping up the country charts singing songs that were clearly appropriate for the under 12 set, like Snapshot, telling the story of a woman scorned who’s really got the upperhand, because she’s got the “Snapshot, he doesn’t know I’ve got oo hoo.”

Of all the songs on those two tapes, though, I think my favorite was “So Complete” because she dared to ask the question “What good is the Oreo, without the middle part?”

Anyway, Nobody came across my radio today, and the memories came flooding back. I swear I could probably recite the lyrics to every Sylvia song (maybe this would be a good project for the next time I run). What tape did you first wear out?