Louis Armstrong said those famous words when he was asked to define the rhythmic character of swing music.

It was a pretty good answer.

Swing jazz was (only slightly) before my time. My parents loved it. But I was into rock & roll. My parents didn't get it. To them it was a cacophony of meaningless noise. A lot of people felt the same way about the jazz music of the time.

Since my parents wouldn't let me play "that noise" on their hi-fi, I'd shut my bedroom door, drag out my suitcase record player, and disappear into the wonderful world of electric guitars, double drummers, and fantastical lyrics. "Turn it down!" was my parents' battle cry. Finally, they gave up on the "volume wars" and got me some headphones for Christmas. Smart.

Now my kids listen to music I don't understand. And I don't ask them about it. There's no point. Thanks to Louis, I already get it: I'll never know. That's okay. They don't know why I love Bowie, the Beatles, Elvis, or KISS - and they never will.

Giving fun t-shirts for stocking stuffers is one of our Christmas traditions, so the kids and I have a deal: we don't worry understanding each other's music - we just give each other the music tees each of us will love. There will be one difference this Christmas: now that they're getting older, they're starting to play their music "too loud!" like I did. So this will be the year my kids find brand new sets of headphones under the tree.