Earlier this year when visiting R&J in London I came across their copy of Free To Be ... You And Me cd. I've wanted a copy of this oh-so-very 70s album for at least a decade - ever since friends of mine have started having babies. Listening to it in R&J's flat brought me back to my childhood and all of the album's lessons about accepting differences in others and being yourself.
There are so many great songs, stories and poems. I just heard Rosey Greer (the former football player) sing a song called "It's Alright to Cry" and Alan Alda sing about a boy named William who has a dolly. William is my dad's name so as a snarky kid I often sang it to my dad, occasionally put barrettes in his comb-over, and called him Wilhelmina. Course that was fair as he called me The Fonz and a gopher . . .
But back to Free To Be, I finally ordered the book and cd for myself. And on this rainy evening I found the box in between my two front doors - yipee! I'm currently listening to it and reminiscing about the complex simplicity of my youth. Each piece brings back vivid memories, feelings and visual images of Atalanta, Young John, and the 'tender sweet young thing' that insists on ladies first, to her demise.
Just looking over the book, I noticed that Shel Silverstein, Judy Blume, Carl Reiner contributed - in addition to the voices of Carol Channing (who could forget her voice?), Harry Belafonte, Mel Brooks, Tom Smothers & Diana Ross. What a great book and cd. It may be from 1974 but is timeless. I would love to see a second volume developed!
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