What Was The First 45 You Ever Owned?
Thanks to Nashville Cream for letting us know that today is the 60th birthday of the 45-rpm single, a format that debuted with Eddy Arnold’s “Texarkana Baby” b/w “Bouquet Of Roses” on March 31, 1949. They’re having readers delve into their record collections to find their favorite examples of that format, but I figured it would be fun to share our first vinyl-single purchases, and where they occurred. My first crush of 45s—all of which were purchased at Pathmark, back when grocery stores thought music was a viable income stream and back when I thought “b/w” was some weird code for the song on side “b” being in black and white (I was young, I dunno)—after the jump.
I was not allowed to watch the movie, and would not see it until some 20 years after the fact.
See above.
Eddie Rabbitt, “Drivin’ My Life Away”
Not sure where I heard this song first. On the radio? I think the New York-area station that was broadcasting Mets games at the time (WHN) was a country station back then.
[Embedding disabled, because Sony thinks it’s … yeah.]
The a-side was actually “My Life,” but I liked this song better. Plus it used the b-word.
Happy Birthday, 45-RPM Records [Nashville Cream] [Pic via Collector’s Quest]