Music Was My First Love

Welcome to a dull and rainy South Manchester, a far cry from this time last week which found me strolling along the promenade next to Playa de las Canteras in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 

It was sunny and warm, the sea was turquoise and there were lots of Spanish people around, which enabled me to at least try to speak to Spanish waiters and shopkeepers in their native language. It was a good place, which was a cross between a beach holiday and a city break. 

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is a fairly big city in its own right and, unlike Tenerife, the other island in the Canaries that I have been to, it is not full of British people. This means that in bars and restaurants people are less likely to speak English. 

In fact I was quite proud of myself having had a mini conversation with the taxi driver who dropped us off at the start of the holiday. It was fun. And we will be planning our next jaunt to Europe this weekend – probably back to Spain.

This week’s Sunday Stealing is about a subject that is close to my heart – music. Just the right thing to put me in a good mood for the weekend. 

Let’s dive in shall we?

Name a song that...

1. You enjoy, in another language.

My music collection has quite a few songs in different languages: German, Gaelic, French, Finnish, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Russian – even Latin (thanks to Enya). Since I feel a little self-indulgent I will give you two songs in different languages. 

This is Air singing “Mer du Japon” (Sea of Japan) in French, their native language:

And this is a strangely subdued Rammstein singing “Ohne Dich” (Without You):

2. Recently introduced you to a new singer

Thanks to Spotify I am exploring new music all the time and one band that is currently pushing my buttons is a band that has been around for a long time but is new to me. They are The Pineapple Thief and their singer is a guy named Bruce Soord. I have only just really started exploring their back catalogue and so far I love what I hear. This is a song called “Demons”:

3. You listen to energize

If Mrs PM and I are getting ready to go out, to a pub or a restaurant, all I can hear from upstairs is her dance music blaring out. So I compensate by reverting to my love of heavy metal. These days I listen to more progressive rock but when I want to get into a great mood I will listen to something much heavier. Something like “Master Passion Greed” by Finnish Symphonic Metal band Nightwish. This is one of my favourite heavy metal songs and if they ever wrote a Heavy Metal theme tune for a James Bond film – this would be it. If you aren’t a fan of Metal listen to it from about 5 minutes 11 seconds. Symphonic Metal at its best.

4. Is your favourite song from a musical.

I hope this one counts. I did see Jeff Wayne’s War of the World performed live. It had a full orchestra, a large rock band with multiple keyboards drums and guitars, all conducted by Jeff Wayne himself and even featuring Justin Hayward, the original singer. I loved it – one of the best shows I have ever been to complete with screen and animations and a giant Martian fighting machine. It also had a hologram of the Narrator, voiced by the brilliant Richard Burton.

This is “Eve of the War” from the original 1970’s album “Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds”.

5. Reminds you of an old love

My ex-wife and I shared some taste in music and she quite likes melodic rock. We have a local Manchester band called Dare who started out in the late 1980's and the lead singer used to be in Thin Lizzy. He formed his own band called Dare who were very good (and still are) and when I bought the album she fell in love with it. 

Here is a song from the album about Manchester - and it is called "The Raindance" for obvious reasons. 

Note - the keyboard player in this band is the now famous British physicist Professor Brian Cox (he no longer plays for them of course). 

6. Make you think of one of your children

When my kids were babies and struggling to sleep, I used to get up with them in the middle of the night and try to gently coax them back into the land of slumber. It took time but one of the things that really helped was music, especially slower and tuneful pop music. This song was a favourite and worked – and I also love it. 

This is “Hello (Turn Your Radio On)” by Shakespears Sister:

7. Makes you smile when you hear it.

I have driven Mrs PM up the wall recently with this brilliant song from Muse. The chorus is such an earworm and I love singing along to it. The entertaining video also features the wonderful Terry Crews. I’d just like you to imagine me sitting opposite Mrs PM listening to this and singing along while she is simply rolling her eyes.

I have a massive smile on my face as I am listening to it now. 

This is “Pressure” by Muse:

Don’t push me (OH AH AAH)

Don’t push me (OH AH AAH)

Let me get off the ground (Don’t push me)

To you I’m no longer bound (OOH WEE AAH)

Don’t stop me (OOH WEE AAH)

Don’t choke me (OOH WEE AAH)

I need you out of my head (Don’t push yeah)

You’ve got me close to the edge (Don’t push yeah)

8. You love but is quite unknown

My taste in music is such that most people haven’t heard of a lot of the bands and artists I love and therefore they haven’t heard a lot of the songs by those artists. I will plum for a song by my current favourite progressive rock band from Poland called Riverside. This is a beautifully laid back song with a great title – “Lost (Why Should I Be Frightened by a Hat?)”. 

9. That annoys you.

There are lots of songs that annoy me and have done for many years. Some are extremely popular too – and I just don’t get their appeal. Here’s an example:

10. That your parents used to listen to.

This is one of the reasons I ended up playing the trombone:

11. From your early years of childhood

This is the first song that I remember liking. It is an amazing song and I still love it. It is of course “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys.

12. That has a colour in the title.

I can't write a post about music without mentioning one of my musical heroes - Mr David Bowie.

Here is "Blue Jean":

13. That needs to be played loud.

Heavy Metal sounds much better loud. 

I went to see Alice Cooper once and they were supported by Motörhead. When Motörhead played the first song, they claimed that the volume was too low – so they turned it up. And it was deafening. Thank goodness I had my ear defenders with me. Thankfully for Alice Cooper the volume was restored. Here is “Overkill” by Motörhead. It does sound good loud (but not too loud). The first lines are:

Only way to feel the noise is when it's good and loud

so good I can't believe it, screaming with the crowd

14. That is perfect for a road trip.

For driving it has to be a good bit of guitar with a driving beat – hard but not too heavy. Something like this excellent tune, “Lifestyle” by the brilliant Joe Satriani:

15. That reminds you of yourself.

I can’t talk about myself without reminding you of my two Scottish brothers, The Proclaimers. And this song is a wonderful happy up-beat pop song and kind of sums up my journey from the rat race towards retirement. Yes, folks, I’m on my way from the misery of work to the happiness of retirement. 

This is “I’m On My Way” by The Proclaimers.

I have been told that I am the third Proclaimer – well certainly in looks anyway.