The Journey Begins: Don’t Open That Door Anne Murray!

Do you remember the call letters to your favorite radio station or stations when you were a kid? Do you even know what radio call letters are at all? I remember the call letters to all of the stations that had such a huge impact on me and shaped how I would see the world. 

Now, before we go too far into the radio station thing I suppose I should remind everyone that I am forty-seven years old. If you are not Gen X or older you may have to research some of the ancient relics I will refer to here and there.

My grandparents listened mostly to records because they didn’t like the “modern music” of the day. However, if a drive was involved and they didn’t wish to listen to a bunch of yelling little grandchildren they would have to play the radio. WKSJ was the station of choice for both sets of grandparents, except for Paw Paw John who seems like he never listened to anything except the sounds of the truck going down the highway. 

KSJ, as it was commonly known, was a country station specializing in “new and classic” country. That is where I first heard Hank Williams Jr., Eddie Rabbit, Alabama, Juice Newton, Ronnie Milsap, Anne Murray (mom loved Anne Murray), Waylon Jennings… KSJ played all of the country from the late seventies and early eighties that had that R&B vibe intertwined with the more traditional country sounds. Three songs stand out in my mind as really bringing R&B sounds heavily into country music, at least as far as I experienced it, were Ronnie Milsap’s There Ain’t No Gettin’ Over Me, T.G. Shepard’s I Loved ‘em Everyone, and the funkiest country jam of the era Terri Gibbs’ Somebody’s Knockin’. I loved Somebody’s Knocking’ so much but it scared me.

I was a very literal kid and I imagined a Faustian Red Devil with blue eyes and wearing blue jeans knocking at this lady’s door. More specifically he was knocking on Anne Murray’s door! I was afraid for Anne Murray. I always waited with bated breath to see if Anne Murray would be stupid enough to open that door. Don’t open the door Anne Murray!! 

A few things to consider here. In 1981, when the song was released, I was six years old. I had already put in three years of preschool, and pre-K, and Kindergarten at Bethany Christian School (Baptist). I was hyper aware of the devil and his ongoing plot to put out this little light of mine and the little light of everyone. We learned of that and many other Devil related stories every single day. The biggest threats to kids at that school in the late 1970’s were quicksand, cooties, and the Devil.

I knew the Devil was shady and sneaky but I didn’t think that he would come to your house and knock on the door. I’m from the South and it’s rude not to answer the door. But, it’s THE Devil! What was Anne Murray to do now? I mean, here he was, in blue jeans, and apparently shirtless because the song doesn’t mention any other attire (and, well, that is pretty on par with the images I had seen on the little cans of his meat at the grocery store) trying to get into Anne Murray’s house to put out her little light and, AND he was going to make it “a helluva good time”!!

This song terrified me. This song also made me want to bob my head, snap my fingers, shake my hips. Oh, I had heard all about how the Devil had corrupted Elvis and made him dance around and now this “son of a bitch”, as I learned from Charlie Daniels around this same time from another radio station my dad listened to, was trying to get me to go to hell too for dancing and enjoying the music! (Did I mention I was a very literal kid with a huge imagination?) 

The Devil was no joke. He was pulling out all of the stops. He was not just seducing Anne Murray and me to the darkness, he was also ensnaring Aunt Carol, Mom, Melissa, and Ginger too because we would all sing along and dance in the car as we rode to the grocery store. 

Brad and Brent were saved by the grace of the Lord and by being old enough, in 1980’s time, to stay home alone with no supervision (or at least we thought) with loaded guns in the house, motorcycles and go karts to ride, lawn darts, knives and machetes, old cars up on blocks that you could hide under while other kids “worked” on it, bicycles with no seats, packs of tobacco and cigarettes just hanging out on the counters, beer in the fridge, and water-proof matches available at any moment in case you wanted to start a fire in the woods or in the house rain or shine. I tell you, I couldn’t wait to turn eight!

I thought that Anne Murray was actually at the radio station singing this song every time it came on and this song was very popular at the time. So, in my mind, Anne Murray had to fight off the Devil numerous times a day. It was an ongoing cliff hanger. How many times a day could one Devil knock at this woman’s door and how many times did this cause her to drive down to the radio station and have her and her band tell us about it. Could we call the cops? Can the cops stop the devil, like serve him a warrant or something? I thought only Jesus could defeat the Devil. Can Jesus be a cop and does he need jurisdiction to stop him in a harassment lawsuit? 

I am telling you that this song perplexed me and it worried me and it made me afraid at night and it confused me because the DJ kept calling Anne Murray by the name Terri Gibbs, but I could not get enough of it. This song made me want to dance, like shake your booty dance. Ya know, “bad dance”. 

Anne Murray was on The Muppet Show around this time. We watched the Muppet Show religiously and this one got re-ran quite a bit in those days. On the show, Anne Murray was funny and she was pretty like my Grandmothers. She sang songs that my mother loved to sing along with and mom would sing them to Ginger and me. 

Anne Murray has a deeper voice for a female singer. Terri Gibbs also has a deeper female voice so naturally I assumed that Terri and Anne were the same. I was six and afraid of all things devil related. Plus, I knew what Anne Murray looked like and I knew what the devil looked like so it only made since that the Devil was knocking on Anne Murray’s door, right?! Right.

This song about the devil knocking at Anne Murray’s door changed my musical journey forever by being my introduction to metaphors and parallels through lyric and melodies. WKSJ introduced me to the song and subsequently changed my life. That song and that station opened up my interest in music and how music made me feel. Most importantly that song opened my eyes to new things and new experiences through rhythm and through lyrical imagery. 

It would be many, many years before I would discover who songwriters were and how songwriters drive music and tell the stories that the artist make come alive. However, this is where hearing songs in a creative manner and as something more than just entertainment started for me. 

One could argue it began a few years earlier with The Devil Went Down To Georgia. Yeah I loved that song and performed at age five as a member of the critically acclaimed musical group, Granny’s Kids, (our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were the critics) but the Devil lost in that song and aside from the curse words that song was championed by the parents of us Bethany Christian School kids. That story was on par with This Little Light of Mine but in secular form. 

However, the devil tempting and maybe even winning over Anne Murray or Terri Gibb, well, that was taboo. Full disclosure: I thought adults were saying the song was Tattoo and I thought tattoos were cool but also scary, so, that made since to Little Dale. 

Seeking to discover more things like this I began to turn the dial of the radio at  home when I was around age six and I found new call letters I liked. I found Q100, WABB, and I still remember when Ginger, Dorrie and I found the greatest station, and the biggest influence on me as a music fan ever, WBLX!! 

You want to talk about tattoo(taboo) in this era of the greater Mobile, AL area in the late 1970s and early 1980s for kids like me? WBLX was the most TATTOO thing possible! It was all the way on the left side of the dial. (Gasp!) And it was AWESOME!!

To be continued…