Tuesday 3 March 2015

55 From 55 - 1970

55 songs in 55 days - one for every year of my life...so far. 

This was the last year that my tastes were almost totally informed by the music Dad played around the house. For Christmas, I was given my own mono record player - freedom! Meanwhile, earlier in 1970, Dad continued to bring home reel to reel tapes of LP's that he'd recorded at work. 'Bridge over Troubled Water' by Simon and Garfunkel proved very popular with him and was followed a couple of years later by a tape of their 'Greatest Hits' LP. He liked that one so much that he actually bought the record, which I still have.

At ten years old I wasn't too struck with the ballads on 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', preferring the tunes with a bit more of a kick, none more so than 'Cecilia'. 40 years later, during a TV documentary on Simon and Garfunkel, I learned the origin of the looped rhythm track that forms the spine of the song. If you haven't heard the story, the clip is here.



7 comments:

John Medd said...

Am I allowed to call you a reel gone kid?

I'll get my coat.

Anonymous said...

I remember purchasing this album when it was released - The Boxer being a favourite of mine.

I'm struck by how genuinely happy you appear to be in every single picture that you've posted so far. You must have grown up in a lovely household.

(You were a tall young man at 10 years old, Mr. S.)

C said...

Ditto Marie - what lovely happy photos. And we're presuming here that you really do have one for every one of these 55 years which is quite something. (Looking forward to those '70s pics especially!)

Re. the song: for a reason that can probably be guessed by a few who know me here, I have a kind of love/hate relationship with it!

The Swede said...

John. Arf arf.

Marie. I'm glad you noticed my height. Wait 'til you see what happened over the next two years!

C. Glad you like the photos. I should be able to find one for each year of the 1970's and after that they'll disappear from this series for the most part. (Sorry about the tune!)

Anonymous said...

Haven't you put it on record that you're not interested in football? Seemed to feature quite a bit for you when you were a kid. Did you just get disenchanted by it all?

That's an interesting story about the tape loop used for 'Cecelia'. Did you notice who the engineer guy looks just like the late UK space pioneer Colin Pillinger? Oh, it was just me.

Another fine 55 from 55 post.

The Swede said...

Well spotted Singing Bear! Yep, sometime quite soon after the 1970 World Cup (which I was addicted to) I just lost interest in footie altogether. It coincided almost exactly with when music started taking over my head and heart. I guess the two things must be connected.

Erik Bartlam said...

I have questions about the copyright status of this photograph.

Greatest Hits