Catchgroove’s Musical Memoir: Summer Camp

As noted in a previous musical memoir post, I was not into pop music. However, given the monoculture of the late 60s and the 70s, I was not unaware of pop music. One place where I was exposed to pop music was summer camp. I loved going away to camp as a kid. First, because it was a chance to get away from my parents. Second, I lived in the city, and getting out into nature was a big attraction. Third, the lawlessness of the Lord of the Flies summer camp environment was a huge attraction. Finally, I was exposed to new music.

My first camp musical memory was at Watson’s Gymnastic Camp (William Watson and all his crazy shenanigans are a topic for another post someday). One of the camp counselors had a pickup truck with an 8-track player. I distinctly remember he had Deep Purple’s Machine Head (1972) and Alice Cooper’s School’s Out (1972). Those albums were amazing. Deep Purple had huge riffs that were so seductive. “Smoke On The Water” not only had the riffs, but it was also a cool story of a fire during the recording sessions. The opening of “Smoke On The Water” was truly an epic guitar riff and guitarist Richie Blackmore claimed it was popular due to it being simple and based around four notes, comparing it to the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. The cover art on the tape made the band look spooky. The music sounded dangerous and something adults would disapprove of. Deep Purple played hard rock, which was a foundation of what later became heavy metal (eventually just metal). It certainly sounded “hard” Machine Head actually deserves to be called a classic. It is an album that never gets old – even after 50 years!

I have never taken Alice Cooper seriously. He has always seemed like a novelty act. The makeup and the horror movie visuals made him seem like a cartoon. That being said, he made some amazing singles, and the song “School’s Out” is really good. It captures the ecstasy of childhood at the end of the school year. I didn’t hate school, but I preferred summer without school all the same. I don’t recall another song on the album, but that one song was worth it all. Later when I got into vinyl, I appreciated the great album art/packaging which was a defaced school desk. Cooper was also considered hard rock. And like Deep Purple, this music sounded dangerous. Whenever I hear “School’s Out” it makes me smile and I want to scream along to the chorus.

I missed several Boy Scout summer camps due to gymnastic camp, but once I quit gymnastics I started to go to Boy Scout camp with my local troop. The first time I went was at a camp in Isabella MN. The camp had a dormitory-style setup. Somebody had a greatest hits tape of Tommy James and the Shondells. The songs were all great, but the one that caught my attention was “Crimson and Clover.” The tremolo effect on the vocals rocked my young teenage mind. I remember pinching the skin over my Adam’s apple and wobbling my throat to create a similar effect. Despite the big impact that Tommy James and the Shondells had on me that summer, I didn’t really catch the pop music bug and when I returned home I was back to my usual musical interests.

But campfire songs were the most significant musical experience at Boy Scout camp. My Scout troop had about 25 songs in our collective repertoire. None of them were written down – it was a true oral tradition. I can’t remember many of the songs, but the ones I remember are:

“Titanic”– this was my favorite campfire song. It told the story of the sinking of the Titanic. The best part was the chorus:

It was sad, so sad.
It was sad, so sad.
It was sad when the great ship went down (to the bottom of the….)
Uncles and aunts, little children lost their pants.
It was sad when the great ship went down.

We would sing those last two lines in multi-part harmony (actual multi-part dissonance) with immature hilarity.

There were more like: “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes,” “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,” “Dem Bones (Gonna Rise Again),” etc. I still remember how fun it was to shout out those songs, we rarely truly sang, around a blazing campfire. We would do skits and recount the adventures of the day. Then we would end with the singing of “Taps:”

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake, from the skies.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

Attending summer camp was one of the great memories of my childhood. I loved it enough that, when I became a teenager and young adult, I worked at Boy Scout summer camps.