Radio ... and Me - 34

'The love-that-harmonica' file
When you were a youngster, Dear Reader, were you ever given an harmonica?
If you did, you probably played it, two chords: inhale / exhale -- over and over and over -- during all your waking hours, and drove everybody crazy.

Until, of course, your mom or your big brother took the 'Hohner Marine Band' away from you!
Many members of my extended family we're quite musical, and knew how to make music with it.
They played Cape Breton music tunes -- either Scottish or French -- and, wherever they went, they were often considered the life of the party.
One of my good friends, to this day, carries one in his shirt pocket wherever he goes, and will begin playing from his wide repetoire at any time!
In those days, we heard the harmonica on some Broadway show tunes, pop songs, but especially on TV westerns, when the cowboys sang around the campfire.
When we moved to radio, we heard the harmonica on the old serials, usually setting the mood by playing sad music, in the 'don't bury me on the lone prair-eee' stories.
It usually augmented a feeling of haunting melancholy, and always dressed up the arrangement.
It was often a featured instrumemt on country tunes, and to play the Blues.
So it wasn't a real 'stretch' when it started to appear on rock'n roll or popular songs.
Folk musicians Bob Dylan, Neil Young played one, with the rack acccessory, so they could accompany themselves while playing the guitar.
In the early days of the Beatles, John Lennon played harmonica for intros of a number of hits, including:
-- 'Love me Do,' their first North American release, and
-- 'I Should Have Known Better,' from their first movie, 'A Hard Day's Night.'
Other notable examples include the following:
-- 'Laugh Laugh,' by the Beau Brummels.
They are said by some adopted the name of the iconic fashionable English 'dandy' so that their records would appear in the next alphabetical record bin right after the usually sold-out Beatles bins.
-- 'The World I Used to Know,' Jimmy Rogers, a beautiful folk song written by Rod McEwen.
And later,
-- 'Sealed With a Kiss,' Brian Hyland, featuring a lush, full-chorus harmonica break.
My Favourite!
And, in the early 70s:
-- 'Piano Man', the legendary signature song by Billy Joel.
and,
'Love Me, Love Me, Love' by Frank Mills, which told a poignant story of a street organ-grinder, and 'who had a little monkey with a cup of tin.'
I wonder if he had 'a license for the minkey.'
(Oops, couldn't resist that line from Inspector Clouseau in 'The Return of the Pink Panther'.)