Julio Iglesias: Begin the Beguine

This one takes me back to some of my earliest memories.

Iglesias' disco version of the Cole Porter classic was a massive international hit in 1981. At about that time, my Dad had moved us out to Nigeria to spend a few years as expatriates. I was a little over one year old at the time.

We were based out in Enugu, erstwhile capital of Anambra State. Apparently we lived in several houses over the few years of our African adventure, but only one sticks in my mind. I forget exactly where it was.

One of my most vivid memories is of being take around Ogbete market in Enugu. I remember it as a vast, swirling mass of humanity, assaulting my toddler senses from all angles. My Mum and I would occasionally be given free stuff by the traders, such is the hospitality and generosity of the Nigerians. I remember one time being led through the market, munching happily on a paper cone filled with peanuts; I cannot have been more than two years old.

I also remember sitting out in the front porch one afternoon - with my Richard Scarry book - and being scared witless by a group of local children running around the corner and shouting their heads off.

My parents had a Julio Iglesias cassette; Begin the Beguine is the only song that sticks in my memory. Apparently, at the time I was also in to Don Williams and Neil Diamond, as well as being a fan of the Kenny Everett Show on Radio 2 which we would tape on our brief visits to the UK.

Still, it hasn't done me any harm .

Has it?

Ronnie Laws: Every Generation

Making the adjustment to life at university was tough at first. I have never been the most outgoing of people to begin with, although I have improved with time. So, moving 250 miles across the country to an unfamiliar city filled with unfamiliar people was always going to be a challenge.

In short, I was homesick for the first half of my first term.

Gradually, as I began to make friends and settle in to the social scene in Exeter, I soon forgot about the whole homesickness thing. I came to view Exeter as my second home.

This presented its own problem: going home for Christmas. By that stage, I had become so used to uni life that part of me did not want to leave at all. On the one hand I was looking forward to returning to the familiarity of my family and homeland; on the other I was leaving behind my social circle, the only friends I had outside of my family.

I was torn.

At that time I had spent the best part of three years searching for a copy of the song Every Generation, which I had heard several times on Jazz FM (as was). The original album (also entitled Every Generation) had been out of print for some time. However, in November of 2000 - during my first term at Exeter - I found it. It was on one of HMV's budget compilations, which I purchased for the princely sum of £5.99.

It is a very reflective song, centred around the changes one experiences as one progresses through life. The lyrics immdediately struck a chord with me, given that I was embarking upon another stage of the great journey of life at the time.

I took the CD back to Flintshire with me over the Christmas break. As I reflected on the momentous changes I was going through, and all the fun and excitement that the next four years had in store, I'm not ashamed to say that I shed a tear or two that December when I listened to the song.

To this day I regard Every Generation as the signature tune of my life. It is also the direct inspiration for the title of my other blog.

Welcome...

Welcome to The Tracks Of My Years*.

For all of us there are pieces of music that have some special significance to our lives, no matter how small.

My aim with this blog is to share with you a few songs that stick in my mind, along with their particular circumstances.

(* With apologies to Ken Bruce)