June 22, 2023 (Song #2000): “To The Morning” (1972) by Dan Fogelberg.  T-42* is the ROAD TRIP edition of the SOTD 60-day countdown. This song comes from senior year of high school during a coach bus ride to Jorgensen Hall at UConn for an All State Orchestra concert; a younger classmate (Julia Hendrickson, I think) introduced me to this record and couldn’t believe I didn’t know it already.  I’m so glad she did! (If the YouTube link doesn’t work, try clicking HERE.) Thanks to Kerstin & Vijay for their beautiful meadow. xoxo  Happy Birthday to Alison Stone Steiner! xoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC SPOTIFY

P.S. Many of my musical memories take place in moving vehicles:

• Our parents sang in the car all the time: “Oh, You’re So Much A Part of Me”, “Abba Dabba Honeymoon”, “We’re All Together Again”, “The Quartermaster’s Store” (we sang it a lot faster than Burl Ives and we added hysterical words, like “well, it’s tea, tea, tea, that makes you have to…” We were a hoot!), “Teenager In Love” (see SOTD from June 10), and, as we got a little older: “Only One” by James Taylor and “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” (the Hall & Oates version).
• During our Orphenian trip to Belgium, France, Holland and Germany in the summer of 1981 we sang “Fa Una Canzona” every chance we got, plus, we memorized every word from the two cassettes that Jeff Provost thought to bring on the trip (it was a different world, kids): Stevie Wonder’s “Hotter Than July” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run”.
• After a full day on the mountain skiing with Melissa Balaban we sat in traffic waiting to get out of the parking lot and she introduced me to Rickie Lee Jones (sigh);
• Steve Grune coming over and getting me to sit in his car in our driveway so I could hear Jimmy Buffett sing “Chanson Pour Les Petite Enfants” and inducting me as a Parrothead;
• Sitting at the light at King’s Highway North and the Wilton Road driving to Staples captivated by the harmonies in The Spinner’s: “Working My Way Back To You”.
• Driving to football games, tailgates and tunks during college in Van Goat with the amazing Swinging ‘Gates, singing, eating, laughing for four years (too many songs to mention, but stay tuned to future SOTD posts for one of my faves).
• Ann, Cindy, Jeanie, Lisa and I singing along to every song on the radio every time we got in a car (and my father always saying: “How do you know the lyrics to every song??”, then me asking my own kids the same thing 30 years later), but especially: Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” in Spring Lake, NJ during Ann’s bachelorette party.  Good times, good times…

I’m sure there are a hundred more that I’ll think of as soon as I hit “send”, but for now… you get the picture.  Now, go sing…