Memory Lane

It's a dull, overcast day today, and so I think that a brief trip down Memory Lane might be just the escape that's needed. The question is, "Where shall I go?" It's all very well to decide to have a wander, but I've got quite a few years under my belt (and an expanding waistline unfortunately!).

Perhaps my 'key' can be music. I love music and song --- pretty much most styles, apart from the really NOISY sort that they seem to play on the breakfast TV show; you know what I mean --- the sort that you can hardly recognise any words in and which helps to give you a headache rather than have a soothing effect on you. In its place it's perfectly okay of course, although I have to admit that wherever that place is I don't really have too much desire to go there!

When I was away last Friday night for the YL conference that I wrote of yesterday, a group of us sat around and discussed, amongst many other things, what sort of music we liked, and in particular I was asked what the first records that I ever bought were. That was easy to answer. It was a Slim Whitman LP which I purchased second-hand from a shop in Manvers Street, Bath, in what was then Somerset. What's more. although I made that purchase fifty years ago this year, I've still got the LP and I still enjoy listening to it. In fact, to prove the point, I've placed a photo of it at the top of this post. I've been hooked on Slim Whitman ever since, and a couple of years ago I travelled to Norwich to see him perform at the very last date on what was his very last UK Concert Tour. He was 78! The theatre was packed with people of all ages and it was a tremendous evening, well worth my having travelled the distance to see him.

Another of my early 'heroes' was the late Hank Snow. I loved the way that his songs told a story, and am still as big a fan as I ever was.

Yes, you've guessed it! I'm most definitely a C & W Fan, but I also like a huge range of other singers as well as enjoying listening to the Classics. I think that often the musical choice of the moment is dictated by the mood that you're in, or perhaps the mood that you'd like to be in. Whatever the answer is, I know that my life would have been much the poorer without music and especially without my musical heroes.

What was your first record purchase dear reader? Why not leave a comment and share what it was and perhaps why you liked it. Also whether you still have it!