Songs ... of Praise!

I was going to talk today about all those songs that have connected with me down through the years and about all those life-defining moments and memories they've conjured up along the way. And to begin, I'd like to talk about the classic song, Ben, because it reminds me of the time when we had ... mmmm ... nah, maybe some other time!

But I do do love the songs, it's true - as I'm sure y'all do too - and I particularly love the great ones! Pound for pound, I even think great songs are better than all other entertainment forms put together although that's probably just me being me today. Still, the reason I say it is because great songs do it for me like nuffink else can. A fine tune can pack more, shall we say, emotional triggers into its core than anything else around, and these can be re-played and re-lived again and again, for as long as you want, and for as long as you live without causing too much disruption to your daily life. Few other art forms are as flexible. No matter how brilliant, say, the best books I've ever read were, I had to consciously find the time and the space to read them - and even if they were a pleasure to behold, I definitely never read any of them more than three times in my life. Yet, I can think of a thousand songs I've listened to a thousand times - and many, many, many of them sound as good on the thousandth listen as they did on the first.

Another great thing about a great song is that you have the sole right to deem it great - every awesome feature, every chord change or solo or lyric or vocal or whatever, is great because you deem it to be so. Hard to argue with that either. Admittedly, it wasn't always like that. When we were all a bit younger, we had to go with what the crowd thought was cool in order to preserve some degree of street cred, so if a genius band in your mind were a bunch of t*ssers in the opinion of others whose opinions carried more weight, then you had to be careful how you batted. Still, I was lucky I suppose, because I happened to love the new wave and the ska music that was all the rage when I was a teenager but I had to keep a lot of other stuff quiet - stuff I really loved but which, if it got out, meant I was finished - like Sheila B. Devotion and eh ... The Goombay Dance Band! No matter how odd or naff or uncool these things were, I just couldn't resist spinning them because they were, to my mind, great songs and that was what mattered most! But being older now, (it has some benefits after all!) I am completely free to listen to what I want regardless of the received wisdom and for that I am privileged and thankful. Yahooo. Free at last.

Now, where is that Tavares album o' mine!

More soon ...


Se-ven tears have flown into dee ree-vurr!