When Spring seems to be in the air and sunlight dapples the path of my walks in the woods, it always makes me a little homesick. For Spring at home means dogwoods in full blossom, the tingle of the sun on your skin, the smell of pluff mud and the sparkling view of the ocean as you hit the bridge for the first beach trip of the season.
I am from the South and the promise of warm weather holds so much weight. Warm weather not only brings beach trips, a great hot dog from Jack's, sweet tea watered down from the heat of the day, but a certain vibe all of its own. It brings with it, its own music; beach music.
Heading down to the beach during Spring/Summer in the South, meant hitting a certain part of the journey where you would lose a good radio signal. But about 20-30 minutes after that, you would pick up the sounds of the beach. Nothing but good old Shagging kinda music. We would roll the windows down to catch that first smell of the pines, the sun beating down on our skin as the car was filled with the sounds of the coast. The music filled our beach house too or echoed from someone else's as we sat on the screen porch, watching my parent's dance around.
I can't get in my car and head to the beach in England, but I can bring the memories of the beach to me. All, I have to do is hit "play" on my Ipod and the upbeat, soulful, happy tunes from the "Beach Music Anthology" fill my house and if I close my eyes real tight, I can almost taste that hot dog and smell those pines, feel my toes digging into the sand, the breeze dancing across my skin, the waves hitting the shore and the sound of beach music floating across the air from someone's radio. I love beach music!
Here are just a few of my favorite beach music melodies:
(Image: film still from "Shag:The Movie")
