On Saturday mornings, a local classic rock station runs replays of Casey Kasem’s America’s Top 40 from the 1970’s. As I was driving this past Saturday, it was a rebroadcast from 1975 and the top single was “Have You Never Been Mellow” by Olivia Newton John. The song reminded me of Mr. Christianson.
Mr. Christianson was my 5th and 6th grade music teacher. He was probably in his mid to late 50s at the time, but seemed ancient to me. The main thing I recall about our weekly classroom music sessions is that he would take time at the end of each class to play whatever single was at the top of the Billboard Chart that week. He would put the 45 on the old classroom phonograph with the inadequate speaker and would expose us to pop music.
I only remember four songs: The Eric Clapton version of “I Shot the Sheriff;” the Blue Swede version of “Hooked on a Feeling” (ooga chaka, ooga chaka); “The Night Chicago Died” by I don’t know who; and “Have You Never Been Mellow.”
This was pretty cool, because I’m almost positive Mr. Christianson did not play these records at home. In fact, he wasn’t much of a fan. I believe he thought Newton John and Elton John were the same person.
The other thing Mr. Christianson did was indulge a 5th grade rock fantasy. A couple of buddies and I had the idea to start a band. Having had a year of piano lessons, I was to be the keyboardist. Mr. Christianson agreed to meet us after school to work with us. This was more difficult for my buddies because Cannon Falls Elementary School did not have a supply of guitars or a drum set (and neither did my pals). It did, however, have a piano. While my pals looked on, Mr. Christianson patiently tried to teach me some rock chord progressions. We lasted a couple of sessions before we moved on to our next big idea. No danger of Mr. Christianson confusing me for Elton John.