"In My Life" by Judy Collins for The Wonder Years

Music on Sunday @ The Reaction

By Richard K. Barry

If you grew up in the late '60s and early '70s, maybe went to high school in the early '70s, you might have enjoyed the The Wonder Years, a television program that aired from 1988 to 1993. 

It's not that you wouldn't enjoy the program otherwise, but they did a really good job of tugging at the old hear strings for those of us who could directly relate to this time and the themes depicted. I'm hugely sentimental about this sort of thing and don't care who knows it. 

Although they were never specific about the town depicted, I always assumed it to be a suburb of New York City given the fact that the main character, Kevin Arnold, was a New York Jets and New York Mets fan. Having grown up in the suburbs of New York, I could relate (although I was a Mets and Giants fan). 

All in all, they just did a fine job of getting the period right. 

One thing they did extremely well was to use music to set scenes and evoke emotion. Episode after episode provided yet another opportunity to showcase some of the best music of the period. 

In one scene, the producers used a version of the Beatles' "In My Life," sung by Judy Collins, as the soundtrack for a montage, as was typical for the show (using montages, that is). 

I've always loved this one.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)