Sunday 30 September 2012

I Wanna Dance With Somebody

Today I have been sitting at my laptop typing a long overdue email. It was a bit quiet so I opened iTunes up to have on in the background. An hour later and I have barely typed a word in the email but have taken a nice trip down memory lane.

My music taste is quite eclectic. Depending on mood etc I can have anything from Metallica to Madonna through to Michael Buble playing. My music collection is quite large. I even still have a lot of vinyl. I grew up with my mum who absolutely loves her music and has a bigger collection to me in both Cd's and vinyl and a dad who worked in radio for a long time. Dad and I would have great chats about old and new music. I loved hearing his stories and bits of trivia about different songs and singers. Music has always been a big part of my life and always will be.

The first song that played on iTunes was Whitney Houston's song "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" As soon as it started I remembered sitting in Textiles class in grade 8 (i think) listening to this song on cassette. We were allowed to have a tape deck on whilst we worked. Us girls were dancing and miming in between sewing something on the sewing machines. As teenage girls, I have no doubt that we had a certain boy in our mind when we were singing these songs, whoever the latest crush at school happened to be and we were convinced it was written about him.

Next song that came on was Young Mc's "Bust a Move". This had me thinking of how in the mid 90's we would go to the Edgy Pub in Mentone (Melbourne) every Wed's night. This song always came on at least twice a night as it would always get the dance floor pumping. We would always take great pride in singing it at the top of our voices as we had made a point of learning all the lyrics and dance moves. It always felt like a party when that song played.

This was followed up with P!nks "So What" Now people who know me, know I have a never ending love affair with P!nk. Granted it's a one sided affair but hey the girl speaks my language. This song though is still my ultimate favourite song from her. You see she wrote it about her husband with whom she had separated from at the time. They had a great relationship still though, as he appears in the film clip to it. The first time I saw the clip I was surprised to see Carey (her hubby) in it. She calls him a tool and generally rants and raves at him before he then gives her the most loving hug. This makes me think of a certain ex everytime I see it and or hear it. The song had always sung to me about him but once i saw the clip, I imagined me singing it to him. I know I called him a tool (and probably a lot worse) and yet he would still be caring enough to give me a big hug and a kiss on the forehead whilst we were going through the hardest break up I have ever had. So whilst this song is empowering and great to sing along to, I still get the urge to "sing" it in my head to him. I am not a great singer at all but I had a great time singing this anthem at Karaoke at the Iron Bar in Port Douglas a few years ago.

Another song that came up on iTunes was Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" this took me back to being 11 or 12. Mum used to have a few friends around on a Sat night sometimes and the records would get played. There were a few of us kids who'd be in and out of the lounge room. Were were all around similar ages. This one night we all sat out in the hallway listening as the adults were playing this song over and over AND OVER!!! I shit you not it was on repeat for a good hour!! Now my mum and her friends weren't hippies or anything like that, so no they weren't pulling bongs whilst listening to this song. What they were actually doing was trying to work out what some of the lyrics were. You see in case you aren't familiar with the song (Shame on you!!) this song contains lyrics such as: If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now, It's just a spring clean for the May Queen.
As a child I never really knew the lyrics of this particular song, nor did I want to hear it again in my lifetime as I had heard it at least 100 times in my short lifetime. Yet these days I love the song because A: It is a great song to just rock out to but more importantly it B: reminds me of my mum laughing and having fun with her friends.

Four different songs and four different journeys they took me on in the time it took to listen to them. A song can bring a smile to your face, it can put a tear in your eye. Everybody has different reasons for liking a certain song. While somebody may not like or appreciate the music you like, they have their own likes that in turn have a whole different meaning to them.

Except for Nickelback, I'm sorry but I can't bring myself to appreciate nor understand the appeal!