Tag: Classsic music

Young Girl

May 15, 2025

Not all classic music is palatable in every aspect of consideration. “Young girl” is one of those. Gary Puckett and the Union Gap was a pop music group in the 1960s and 70s. I enjoy their music. There is a problem with this song, though.

It could sound like a dirty old man who is chasing a young lady. When I was in college I had this problem as well. However, I was only nineteen. She was fifteen. According to Missouri State laws I could be prosecuted for having sex with her until she turned eighteen.

Listen to the lines of the song. He thought she was old enough. I knew that Cindy was not. I did not tell her to hurry home to her mother. I did not need to change my mind. I could not get her out of my mind even if I wanted to. I wanted to spend time with her. I wanted to get to know her better. This is the normal course of dating.

Our culture has changed since my days. Young people were taught to wait until they were married to have sex. It is better to concentrate on other things as your relationship grows. My love for this girl was not out of line. My desire to just have sex with her would have been.

When we got married, she was seventeen. Her Mother signed our marriage license. She was still in High School. I was twenty-one and had graduated from college two weeks before. The previous summer I spent ten weeks away in Pennsylvania working as a student pastor for a church through the summer missionary program of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board.

Upon returning, I decided that we needed to be married as soon as I graduated. I did not know where God would lead me. I did not want to have to leave her behind again. We were already engaged before I had left for the summer. I knew after a few months of dating her that I wanted to spend my life with her. Not just one night.

We planned the wedding for May. I began working at a part-time job. We decided where we would live. We purchased a car of our own. Our families helped with expenses and preparations. We planned for a minister, church, flowers, cake, maid-of-honor, best man, and everything else. We even decided to go to Branson for our two-day honeymoon.

Right after graduation, my part-time job became a full-time position in a management program. Two weeks after the wedding I was told that next Monday I would be in Joplin and would serve as a manager at a new location. I was reminded of why we needed to get married when we did.

This year we will be married for forty-nine years. If anyone said it would not last, I think we have proved them incorrect. All our kids got married while still in college. When I told them they should wait like I did, they reminded me that Cindy finished high school as a married woman. Now you know why I always said they could start dating when they were thirty.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

Classics are not always good

September 22, 2022

A classic is defined as, “Judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind.” I’ve read several classic novels, watched numerous classic movies, classic music from the thirties to the eighties is on my playlist, and many of my cars over the years have been close to classics.

The Ford Edsel is considered a classic. It may have been high quality when it first came out. It was not well accepted at that time. The thing that makes vehicles classic is not always the quality. It is usually the age.

Many classic books also were not accepted when first published. Some were ahead of their time. Others were thought to be classic material but have not survived the years. Of all the stories I have read some I consider good and others bad. When I read a classic, I may decide before finishing it that I do not care for the way the story is being told. At times this is because of what was considered proper techniques during that period.

Most novels I read line up on my scale from good to bad. Most are three to four on a one to five scales. Some I read are not worth rating at all in my opinion. Not all of these are considered classics. From junior high school through college, I disagreed with the ratings of the literary experts. Many of these stories were in textbooks.

A few authors that are considered classics are not my favorites. I may enjoy a story or two by Hemingway or others. As I read more of their work, I conclude that while they did well on some tales, the majority of what I have read is not what I consider quality.

This also goes for classic music. Classic in this genre is often what is called “long-haired” music. That is not what I am talking about. I think of every type of music from different eras as a classic due to their age. Some old music does not fall into the classic category for me.

Artists may be thought of as excellent by you and I do not enjoy any or all of what they have recorded. Two people that are examples of this are Willy Nelson and Janis Joplin. I realize that the first is country and the second is thought of as a rock singer. The type of music is not where I decide if I like it or not. I listen to almost every kind of music. My one exception is opera. I can think of no selection in this group that I enjoy.

 I may have mentioned some of your favorites as not being ones that I like. Don’t worry about this. Many people disagree with me. I learned many years ago that if you do not have the same opinion as I, you are not necessarily wrong. Remember that holds true for all of us. Do not argue with others. You may both be correct.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger