Clickity Clack
by Rick Berger
Do you remember some of the sounds we used to hear so often that we took them for granted? Some were from our childhood; others from more recent times. Let’s close our eyes and recall a few…
I remember the sound of chalk when it inadvertently screeched across the slate blackboard in my third grade classroom (a sound not heard on today’s whiteboards.) I fondly remember the corrosive crackling as the needle hit the scratch on a 33 rpm. Sinatra recording of “Come Fly With Me”. There was no avoiding the well-timed (and embarrassing) flourish of sound coming from the crotch of my corduroy pants as the legs rubbed together with my every stride. How I miss the drone of blades cutting through the air as a propeller-driven airplane flew over my house. And whatever happened to the methodically boring tock, tock, tock (minus the tick) of a wood and metal metronome sitting on the piano as we practiced scales? (a sound now relegated to an app on our smart phones). I’ll always recall fondly the fake, though convincing sound, of an engine, coming from the Queen of Hearts playing card attached by a clothespin to the front wheel of my Schwinn bike. Speaking of engines, in the not too distant future the sound of car engines will be replaced by the harmonious hum of an electric engine powering our vehicles down the road.
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