Tag Archives: Music
On loneliness and ear-worms
Where do ear-worms live, do you suppose? An ear-worm farm? Fed on the wasted energy of YouTubers? Wherever it came from, it’s been about about three weeks since a big, fat, Gilbert O’Sullivan ear worm crawled into my internal sound … Continue reading
Seagulls’ wings, the Snow Queen and a musical time machine
High wind. The seagulls riding it like rodeo stars, their wings ‘like parentheses drawn in the sky’. I’m hearing a song in my head. ‘Listen to the oh-shun, echoes of a million seashells …’ I’m back, for an instant, in … Continue reading
Will you still love me tomorrow?
Songwriter Gerry Goffin died. A woman I know tweeted, ‘he wrote with the heart and head of a girl’. Didn’t he just. I don’t need to hear this song. The Carole King version. It’s in my head for all time. … Continue reading
In paradisum
It’s the long hot summer of 1976. June. Finals are over, at last. I wave a temporary farewell to my friend Ros. She’s looking forward to the autumn, a postgraduate course in Cambridge. To holidaying in France with her brother. … Continue reading
Two dog night, no dog morning
Saturday. Under clear blue skies we set sail for Manchester. (I lie. We drive.) The hotel’s grand. Victoriana at its best. Come six o-clock we head out, past the old town hall, accessorised for fun with helter-skelter, big wheel and … Continue reading
And the bandoneon played on
Have you ever heard of the bandoneon? It’s an instrument that messes with your head, a kind of accordion, a lethal mental weapon for the emotionally inclined. …I’m standing at the bar. The bartender’s giving me that look and polishing … Continue reading
MEMOIRS OF A HUSK 