I want to hold your hand

Holding hands

Some say there never was a time of innocence but I disagree. I grew up in an era when what the Beatles sang about was a reality and boys started out just wanting to hold a girl’s hand. Girls giggled when they saw their friends holding hands with a boy.

I was reminded of those days as I viewed an episode of The Munsters titled Far Out Munsters that originally aired in March 1965. The Standells were singing I want to hold your hand which was recorded by the Beatles in October 1963. As I listened I felt wishful and nostalgic.

It's elementary

I recall in elementary school where boys and girls wrote love notes to each other and in the fifth grade here was a boy and girl who would smile at each other and hold hands when the teacher was not looking. They scooted their desks close together and reach out to hold one another’s hands.

"Oh, yeah, I'll tell you somethin'

I think you'll understand

When I say that somethin'

I want to hold your hand

I want to hold your hand

I want to hold your hand"

I remember fondly when I was 13 in the eighth grade and had a crush on a guy in high school. He would board the bus home each evening and sit beside me or behind me when he could. We would hold hands when on the same seat and when he was behind me we would reach our fingers between the seats just under the window and lock our fingers together. It was so fun and magical until he got on the bus one afternoon holding hands with a girl he would soon marry.

Precious memories

On The Andy Griffith Show when young Opie walks hand in hand with his girlfriends I think fondly of decades past. In those days many children and young teens took baby steps with love. Emotions were strong and you thought your heart would burst without even getting a kiss. Holding hands was an exciting and electric feeling.

When I was 14 the teens in my neighborhood began having dances at the Masonic lodge and on one occasion a young man asked me to dance. When it was over he held my hand and we went to the side of the wall and stood just holding hands. He never tried to kiss me, and did not ask for my phone number or where I lived. For two summers at every dance, he repeated this pattern and everyone said he was my boyfriend.

"Oh, please, say to me

You'll let me be your man

And please, say to me

You'll let me hold your hand

You'll let me hold your hand

I want to hold your hand"

I recall couples in love sitting next to each other on the school bus or walking down the hallways of the school building holding hands in middle and high school. While some said they took things further there were others who said holding hands and a kiss goodbye was all there was. When I was a Freshman in high school there was an interacial couple who walked the halls holding hands and they received a lot of glares. The following year a different interacial couple seemed to be more accepted as they held hands and walked the halls.

"And when I touch you

I feel happy inside

It's such a feelin' that my love

I can't hide

I can't hide

I can't hide"

In my senior year two girls began walking through the school holding hands and they really were ostracized as teachers said they were confused and students heckled them. Looking back I would say they were brave.I’m so glad I grew up in the mid-1960s and early 1970s in the area that I did and that I can recall these memories.

"Yeah, you got that somethin'

I think you'll understand

When I say that somethin'

I want to hold your hand

I want to hold your hand

I want to hold your hand"

Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded on 17 October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment

"And when I touch you

I feel happy inside

It's such a feelin' that my love

I can't hide

I can't hide

I can't hide"

So amazing is the power of music that it can transport you back in time. Although each decade had its own troubles in your heart you reminisce and believe these truly were the good old days. The Beatles had no way of knowing the far-reaching impact of their song.

I think of how my late husband and I held hands when we first met and in our older years we would clasp our fingers together in a church service or funeral right up until 2 days before he had the stoke thst took him from me. There are probably other baby boomers who have fond memories of someone they recall thinking about or actually telling them I want to hold your hand.

"Yeah, you got that somethin'

I think you'll understand

When I feel that somethin'

I want to hold your hand

I want to hold your hand

I want to hold your hand

I want to hold your hand"