Rant #1,563: The First Annual 45 RPM Record Day

Surprise!

As I told you yesterday, I wasn't supposed to be here today. I had some personal business that had to be attended to, and I was taking the day off from work and from this column.

But lo and behold, my wife's "good" fortune saved me.

Her work gave her off today--she does have to work Saturday, I am sorry to say--so she can do what I had planned to do, so I can go to work today, and write up another Rant for you to ponder.

Since I learned about this late yesterday, and had nothing really planned for today--that often happens, by the way, that I come in here with nothing really planned, then I crank out a pretty good column--today, I have declared December 1, 2015 as the First Annual 45 RPM Record Day.

There is no reason that I have declared it as I have, other than the fact that I really have nothing in mind to write today, I have lots of 45s that I have scanned recently from my collection, and I would like to share some of them with you.

Personally, I have always been fascinated by those little 7-inch wonders, many of which really aren't singles, per se, as they do contain at least two songs, sometimes three, and sometimes even four songs, making those records extended play disks.

But even in this CD/digital age, the fun, wonder and amazement of these 45s can never be duplicated. They are not being re-released as many LPs have been, and even if the single versions of these tunes are released, they simply aren't the same as the original record, as the probably have been remastered.

And the original record had art of its own, sometimes exactly the same as the LP it might have been put out to boost, but oftentimes much, much different. So as an art form, it is an entity unto its own.

These singles are still being produced to this day in the U.S., but usually to commemorate something, like this past Friday's Black Friday Record Day or Record Store Day in April.

Anyway, sprinkled through this Rant are a number of my latest finds, and I have to say, I still love these records.

So see what I have posted, enjoy the memories of the tunes that they are highlighting, and you see, I have made something of a day that was going to be a non-appearance day here.

The First Annual 45 RPM Record Day--get out your own 45s and listen to them, and go back to another time and place ... .