I am 34 years old, nearly 35. I am officially at the age where I can say, “When I was kid, we didn’t have…” My parents said it. Their parents said it. And now, I am saying it.

We all get lyrics stuck in our heads. We walk around all day whistling, or humming, or if we are courageous enough, singing the lyrics to ourselves over and over again ad nauseam. I recall (fondly, I might add) my father wandering around the house when I was a wee lad singing repeatedly the lyrics from the Paul McCartney tune “Long and Winding Road” — “The long and winding road that leads…to your door…will never disappear…I’ve seen that road before….” I don’t think he could remember the whole tune, so he just sang those lines over and over again. It’s been 30 years and I still remember that.

During the times of my father’s youth and even during my younger years of the 1980’s, if I had a song stuck in my head I had to either: call the radio station and request the song and wait until they played the song (and that is IF they played the song at all). I could sit in front of the television and wait for MTV (when they still had videos) played the video. Or I could by the album or cassette. In any of the cases, the song was not easily accessible. It was a waiting game. Especially for a kid like me who waited until the song played over the radio so I could quickly press record on my boombox and record the song on tape.

There was no Itunes, no YouTube, no immediate satisfaction. When I was a kid, you had to work to hear the songs you wanted. Now, it’s as easy as a click of a button. These kids today…I swear. They don’t know how good they have it. 99 cents and the world of music is at their fingertips. Pshaw!

Anyway, I said all that to say that I’ve had the WKRP theme song running through my head for the past few days. I’m not really sure why. Part of it is probably because I am about to head to Cincy to watch the Reds play the Cubs in this the final days of the 2007 major league baseball. And part of it may be because I am a bit nostalgic for the old days. The days when you appreciated music because it wasn’t so easy to come by.

Years go by and things change. And yet, with all the changes, some things remain the same. Life is funny that way. I guess it is a long, winding road.