Music Was My First Love

 

‘Music was my first love
And it will be my last
Music of the future
And music of the past
To live without my music
Would be impossible to do
In this world of troubles
My music pulls me through’

 John Miles ‘Music’

 

I was intrigued to read in the papers recently that the Pope has an extensive music collection, and a rather eclectic musical taste (one might even say a ‘catholic’ taste?!?). Apparently he is ‘passionate about music’ with his playlist including Bach and Elvis.[1]

Well, I may not have as extensive a collection, but I too am passionate about music and over the last couple of weeks I have been once again reflecting on how significant music has been in my life. It has always been hugely important to me. I have been wondering why.

And so, I will reflect on that a wee bit in some posts on my blog. If music is of little or no interest to you then you might well not wish to bother reading these!

It seems that music has always accompanied me. Not only the songs learned at school, in church and Sunday School, and at my mother and grandmother’s knee. But music was an ever-present part of my life for as long as I can recall. There was always a piano in my home and also in my grandmother’s home. My father was a very good singer indeed. He sang in the church choir, and (along with my mother) in amateur musical performances and so on. Therefore there was always singing in the house as pieces were practised… and often just because people sang! My father later became a professional singer for a while, appearing on stage and on TV, sometimes singing popular pieces, sacred pieces, many Burns’ songs and opera too.

But music all really opened up for me when my parents bought the first record player. It was a Garrard portable which could play 45s, 33s and 78s. I think it looked something like the one pictured above.

Along with the record player, several records were bought; singles and LPs. And thus began my musical fascination and education. The singles included a wide mix: Cliff Richard, the Beatles, Val Doonican, Roger Miller, the Swinging Blue Jeans and so on. The LPs were more my parent’s scene, musicals, Sinatra etc.

At that point, to me, it didn’t matter. It was all wonderful and fascinating. Discernment came later!

To this day I can sing every word of Roger Miller’s ‘King of the Road’ or Val Doonican’s ‘Walk Tall’. Sad really.

But all that music from way back in the day has filled me with many rich memories and I find it helps me place things that happened in my life and in world history. Some of the key events of the 1960’s (Kennedy’s assassination, the Aberfan disaster, Harold Wilson’s election in 1964, the Moon landing, etc) as also the birth of my younger sister, summer holidays , and so much more are somehow linked in my mind with music and place.

I am glad I have the musical memories from back then. My life would be much, much poorer had I not been exposed at an early age to so much music, by so many artists, of so many different styles.

I did not have an easy or trouble-free relationship with my parents – far from it – but for this I can certainly thank them. ‘Thank you for the music’.

Almost all of the music I listened to as a youngster I enjoyed at the time (even if I would not listen to some of it now). But there was some music that stirred a deeper interest and curiosity in me.

I began to be captivated by some of the musicals that my parents had on LP (or sang in amateur shows). Not so much the familiar Oscar and Hammerstein shows (which were ok, I guess), and certainly not the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas that irritated me even then (and irritate me much more now!). It was the likes of ‘Guys and Dolls’ and, more so, ‘West Side Story’ that caught my attention.

Frank Sinatra also really impressed me and I especially remember the wonderful album of Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. I am wondering now if that is where the seeds of my love of jazz may have been sown.

Amongst the contemporary pop singles in our collection, while I listened to them all, I found the rawer and rockier sound of the Swinging Blue Jeans and ‘Hippy, hippy shake’ particularly appealing.

But more than anything it was the Beatles who connected with me. With their early singles there began a fascination, appreciation, and even obsession which lasts until this day.^[2] I think that even as a young child I realised and recognised that the deceptive simplicity of these early singles even then hinted at a talent and creativity which transcended the passing, pop star image.

I have the most vivid memory of lying on the sitting room floor at home in 1963 and watching he Beatles perform at the Royal Variety performance on TV. Their final song, ‘Twist and Shout’ really impressed this wee seven year old.[3]

Between the Beatles, ‘West Side Story’, Sinatra and Basie, opera, and church music, a wee fire was being lit within, and even then I knew that music would live with me as a key part of my life. 

 

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[1] https://cathstan.org/news/culture/pope-s-music-library-contains-nearly-2-000-cds-includes-elvis-and-piaf 

[2] A few years later, at Christmas 1968, my father had progressed sufficiently in singing and entertainment to be cast in that year’s pantomime at the Kings’ Theatre in Glasgow which starred Kenneth McKellar; ‘The World of Jamie’. One of the co-stars (whom my father was understudying in addition to his main role) was the comedian and entertainer Nat Jackley who had appeared the previous year in the Beatles film ‘The Magical Mystery Tour’.  There being no panto performance on Christmas Day and with Nat having nowhere else to go, my father invited him to ours for Christmas dinner and the poor man got no rest from my insistent and persistent questioning regarding the Beatles!

[3] You can watch this performance here https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-beatles-royal-variety-performance-1963-footage/