So sad to hear about Mary Travers dying of cancer. Peter, Paul & Mary were a big part of the soundtrack of my childhood.

Peter, Paul & Mary were a big part of the soundtrack of my childhood.

Seriously. PP&M and Joan Baez were the only 20th-century albums my parents had. Although, occasionally, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass and the Royal Tahitian Dance Company got thrown into the mix.

Of course, in the car, it was pretty much all Johnny Cash all the time.

My childhood soundtrack was the Carpenters, the Kingston Trio, the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack, other show tunes, all my dad's jazz (Stan Kenton especially), and whatever was on AM radio in the car.

Then Mom got into Manilow and it all went downhill ...

My parents had maybe 40 or 50 LPs (Jim Neighbors comes to mind) but I don't recall a single time they ever played any of their records around us. I remember my Aunt mailed us an Elton John tape when my parents got a car with an 8-track player back in '75, so that got played a lot. But it was always us kids picking 8-tracks. Then we got an 8-track stereo so we would make our own tapes.

My parents played music all the time, but it was generally either Bach (my mother) or Beethoven (my father). Common ground was found with Gilbert & Sullivan. Most importantly, Mozart was for sissies.

I would think that Amy and I had the same parents until you mentioned your dad's jazz records. My dad's favorite group is the Kingston Trio, so I was raised on all of their albums. He also loves John Denver, PP&M, Willie Nelson, and Simon and Garfunkel.

My mom thought that show tunes were more appropriate for us kids (and I know she likes them herself, but she doesn't seem to listen to them much on her own), so we grew up with the movie soundtracks for everything from Sound of Music to Jesus Christ Superstar (Sis and I would argue over who got to sing along with Judas--the loser got stuck with Ted Neeley's Jesus; we split the other songs).

But, since I'm the youngest and my oldest sib by five years, my brother, is the music freak of the family, I mostly grew up listening to his music or Top 40 stations before I started buying my own. Chicago, ELO, Queen were all widely heard from bro's bedroom, and sis and I would be singing along with whatever was on WLS.

Albums my mother owned that I remember listening to before I was 10: Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell, early Beatles, Peter Paul & Mary, Pete Seeger (mostly kids' stuff), John Denver, and Joan Armatrading. I've been hearing Mary Travers' voice like a bell on "If I had a hammer" all day. She was really a striking woman, so tall and sharp-featured, not at all a typical early-60s beauty (but beautiful).

My mum only listened to classical. My dad had precisely three pop albums and I loved them all: the first Crosby, Stills and Nash; Harry Nilsson's Aerial Pandemonium Ballet (because he loved Everybody's Talkin'); and The Supremes A Go-Go. The first two I have since bought on CD. Oh, and they must have got the Beatles' Red Album at some point because I remember playing along to it on tennis raquet.

My parents were quite big folkies and we had a couple of Peter, Paul and Mary albums. I recall listening to "Leaving on a Jet Plane" again and again and again....

(My dad also had some jazz, but it's hard to get into the MJQ when you're only 8.)

My dad used to play Irish revolutionary songs in the car. I still quite like them.

We had two car tapes in succession: first an 8-track of the Sesame Street soundtrack (yes, I can still sing all the words to "I love trash") and then later a cassette of Simon and Garfunkle's Concert in Central Park.

My mom had Supremes, too, I forgot about that, and Simon and Garfunkel. My father was the Classical fan, and he actually had a bunch of reel-to-reel tapes that were a real production to listen to.