Daily Jam - You Were on My Mind

Some 30 or 40 years ago and everywhere in between, the sounds of old songs dubbed from records onto cassette tapes played to the ears of a family of five in an old white station wagon or silver caravan. They played as these vehicles traversed across the country through the deserts and mountains of the southwest, or the swampy glades of the gulf region, or the winding roads and Atlantic views of the East Coast. The selections of jazz and folk and country and bluegrass and pop, handpicked by the engineer in the driver’s seat, have forever ingrained themselves into my mind, the seeds planted well into my youth to finally gain appreciation and adoration as I grew older. I didn’t like everything that my dad had us listen to, and still don’t, but I feel a kind of kinship with those old songs now that I never would have foreseen as a kid.

Originally written and performed by country folk duo Ian & Sylvia, the song “You Were on My Mind,” was covered by the California pop quintet We Five in 1965 on their debut album of the same name, featuring some slight alterations to lyrics and melody and played at a faster tempo. It’s the only version I’m familiar with, and an easy, quintessential piece of 60’s pop. The song gradually builds and builds, starting with a gentle riff and beat that intensifies as the vocals pick up and guitar churns. And then it’s over just as quickly as it began. This is a pop nugget after all, and earwormy piece of bubble gum that has never left my head.

I can still picture the road ahead and behind, clouds forming in the distance bringing the rain, or the heat hovering over the pavement as the sun shines down. I still picture the farmland passing by my window, scores of green trees, mountain pathways, red rocks and tumbleweeds, and the ocean, graceful from afar. Somewhere in time, I’m still on a family trip.