In ’67 she became a Cliffie, entering Radcliffe College to major in Social Relations and African Studies. “I wanted to help undo the damage that Western colonialism had done to native cultures around the world,” she later said. “Cambridge was a hotbed of this kind of thinking, and I was thrilled.”

Born in Burbank, California in 1949 but mainly raised outside of New York City, where her father, John was a Broadway musical star, Bonnie Lynn Raitt discovered the guitar at an early age, picking up the bottleneck-style playing that would bring her fame while at summer camp in the Adirondacks.

Among so much else, the 1960s brought a Blues revival and Raitt learned that an important figure in that movement, promoter Dick Waterman, was a Harvard Square regular.  The two became friends and soon she was playing along-side the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, Sippie Wallace and Mississippi Fred McDowell  “…much to the chagrin of my parents, who didn’t expect their freshman daughter to be running around with 65-year-old bluesmen,” she recalled.

When Waterman moved to Philadelphia the following year, bringing the core of the local Blues community with him, Raitt decided to take a hiatus, later recounting how “…these people had become my friends, my mentors, and though I had every intention of graduating, I decided to take the semester off and move to Philadelphia…. It was an opportunity that young white girls just don’t get, and as it turns out, an opportunity that changed everything.”

Perhaps better known now for her ‘90s recordings, Bonnie Raitt released a number of acclaimed albums throughout the ’70s that incorporated elements of Blues, Folk and Country, including her 1973 album “Takin’ My Time”  that was produced by Lowell George of Little Feat fame.

One of the record’s more lively tracks is today’s selection. Originally a hit for The Sensations in 1962, “Let Me In” with music and lyrics by Yvonne Baker, expresses sentiments well suited to this social season.

LISTEN TO TODAY’S SELECTION – Monday 10 December 

Let Me In

 Let me in

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh, woo-wee-ooh

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh, woo-wee-ooh

I can see the dancin’

The silhouettes on the shade

I hear the music, all the lovers on parade

Open up, I want to come in again

I thought you were my friend

Pitter and patter on the feet

Movin’ and a groovin’ with that beat

Jumpin’ and stompin’ on the floor

Let me in, open up

Why don’t you open up that door?

I hear music let me in

Whoa I heard it just then

Let me in, I wanna’ come in again

I thought you were my friend

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh, woo-wee-ooh

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh, woo-wee-ooh

Pitter and patter on the feet

Movin’ and a groovin’ with that beat

Jumpin’ and stompin’ on the floor

Let me in, open up

Why don’t you open up that door?

I hear music let me in

I wanna’ come in again

Let me in, Whoa I heard it just then

I thought you were my friend

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh, woo-wee-ooh

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh, woo-wee-ooh

 Alright, I’m in.