If I remember correctly, it was when the above Shadows EP single came out in either 1976 or '77, that I wallpapered my bedroom for the first time. I also painted the skirting boards and doors, lifted the carpet to find linoleum underneath, and under the lino, loads of sheets of old newspaper from the '60s. I also recall watching the Nana Mouskouri show while taking a short break from my decorating tasks and hearing her sing The Three Bells, accompanied by The King's Singers. However, for some reason I associate the cover of this record with my labours, and even though I've got an LP with the same cover, as well as a CD, I decided to buy the above replacement via eBay just to have it again.
Thing is, I already have the single in a generic record sleeve, but can no longer recollect whether it's my original single, sans sleeve, which may have got damaged and thus discarded, or an earlier replacement. Once I would've been able to recall every detail, but the ol' memory is atrophying at an alarming rate. Anyway, I'll use the cover to create a duplicate for the other single, as I prefer picture sleeves for singles as opposed to dull, boring, blank cardboard ones. I've often wondered why some singles have picture sleeves, while others have only paper sleeves with the record companies' logos on them (if even that). Any Crivvies know?
Anyway, do you associate any single 45 rpm records with a particular moment from your past, or are they free from any specific connections in your Crivvie craniums? Tell all (if there's anything to tell) in the comments section.
There are so many songs that take me right back to certain moments in time, that’s the magic of music – stand outs are::
ReplyDeleteStop in the name of love -Supremes – 1965: Every time I hear this I remember my brother taping the TOP 40 on Radio 1 on his Philips cassette tape recorder. As you did back then you had to sit ready with your fingers on the pause button ready for the song to start so you could press play/record so that you didn’t get the DJ talking before or after the song. My brother had tried for ages to get this one recorded as it was a favourite of his, but there was always an issue. In the case that always comes back to me when I hear it he managed to tape the song cutting of the DJ at the start but just as the song was due to end the ice cream van came around with his chimes on full pelt.
Tie a yellow ribbon round the old Oak tree – Dawn – 1973 – My mum and dad loved this song. I bought it for them as a present and one day came home early from being out with my pals to catch them dancing in the living room to it – was strange (although my mum and dad were loving to each other I rarely saw them dance together) – one of my favourite memories of them.
Knock three times – Dawn – 1970 – Ah this reminds me of my first crush at school I plucked up the courage to ask her to dance and the school party – I was a shy 10 year old so a that was a big thing to do – 2 months later I had a crush on my stand in teacher – I was a major 10 year old player back then 😊
Wild is the Wind – David Bowie –1976 - I remember my brother bought the Station to Station LP by Bowie which this was on. He loved this song (it’s a cracker of a rock/ pop balled) and he played it a lot. We then spent the day talking about music, which was great as at the age difference between (5 years but 15 – 20/21) was starting to show as he had other interests. Although we remained close we drifted apart as he got older, dated got married had kids etc – When my brother passed away very suddenly this played ad his funeral I was immediately taken back in 1976 talking to him about that Bowie LP etc = Bitter sweet stuff.
Hungry like the Wolf – Duran Duran – 1982 – After work on a Friday my pals would meet in a local pub in Motherwell for a pint and to discuss where we would be going on Friday or Saturday night so we could arrange to meet up (no mobile phones) One of my mates loved this and used to put it on the Jukebox and say “ok seriously stuff now lads ,what’s the plan for the weekend…”
Another Winter’s Tale - David Essex – 1982 – Got chucked to this a year after it came our but it was always in the charts at Xmas time - even now I get a bit melancholy when I hear this - This is one in a series of songs I was dumped to that could fill a series of “Now that’s what I call …..” CDs 😊
Apologies for delay in publishing your comment and replying to it, McS, but had to go to the shops, then fell asleep when I got back. (I don't like this 'getting old' stuff.) Great wee reminiscences there for each song, especially the ones about your parents and brother. Yeah, songs (like comics) take you right back in time, don't they? Do you get the same memories from just looking at the covers to these records, or do you have to actually hear them? Having just said that, I suppose we associate the songs with the covers just as much as anything else we experience at the time, so maybe it's a redundant question.
ReplyDeleteStrangely I have little or no memory of the single covers mentioned above I think they were those generic paper covers with the company logo – the Bowie song I heard on LP first but I purchased the “Wild is the Wind” single a few years later in a special edition cover etc. However, for other song yep the covers also take me right back, even the aforementioned generic covers like the MARMALADES " ob la di ob la da" (the first single I ever bought) which have an orange and white standard CBS logo cover -I came across a similar cover to another artist and song in a charity shop and it took me back to the Marmalade’s song. My mum liked Jim Reeves (like you) and Frank Ifield and she had lots of their singles in picture covers – I still can picture the cover of the Jim Reeves "I won’t forget you/ A strangers just a friend" single cover that we had with him in his red jacket black with piping and his arms crossed. Ditto Frank Ifield singles like "Funny how time slips away" the song and the picture cover (I still have the reocord broken ) takes me right back to a certain time (if that makes sense)
ReplyDeleteThe only singles picture sleeves I remember having in our house as a kid were The Larry Harmon Laurel & Hardy and the Introducing Captain Scarlet ones; all the rest were generic sleeves. I remember the Marmalade song and bought a replacement for the one we used to have around 40 years ago. (By that I mean I bought the replacement 40 years ago, not the original.) Talking of Jim Reeves, I just bought his 'Christmas Card' EP (from the '60s), which has 4 tracks from the 12 Songs Of Christmas album - just because it had a picture sleeve. I know what you mean about records and their covers taking you back to a certain time; whenever I look at the Laurel & Hardy or Captain Scarlet covers, I'm back in the house in which I lived in the '60s.
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a really cool EP!
ReplyDeleteBtw, I know it's been a while since we talked, but I have a new comic book in case you want to write a post about it, like you did with my first one !
https://artbyarion.blogspot.com/2020/01/dead-wrong-1.html
I'll let the link speak for itself, A. I see it was done over a year ago though, so it's not exactly new, is it? Anyway, hopefully this plug will help you sell a few more copies.
ReplyDeleteHad the Shadows best of top 20 hits LP with that same jacket design. Strange but no memories of 45s but LPs yes. ELO New World Record and the Superman movie soundtrack LP. Oh that movie. I felt like crying I was so happy watching the intro, the music and the first half including the first appearance of Superman.
ReplyDeleteArions site was blocked on my Laptop so I couldn't check it out, sorry Arion. I was checking it out on an old work Laptop I bought from an ex office supply shop so it may just be it was a generic block, I don't use it too often . I wont try to check it on my actual work laptop just incase but will look at it on my phone later.
ReplyDeleteI have memories of LP covers too, PS - mainly Bond soundtracks and a few Disney ones. Yeah, Superman The Movie was a belter, wasn't it? Still stands up well today.
ReplyDeleteI can recall with crystal clarity where I bought some of my old LPs the weather and the person that served me. With CD’s I haven't a clue if I even bought them in Scotland or Papua New Guinea (never been there just mentioned for effect lol) . The first Superman movie I thought was a bit "blah" when I first saw it but as time has passed I appreciate it as great film and a true representation of "my" Superman - A true classic of the genre.
ReplyDeleteI was blown away by the movie on first seeing it, MsC. Saw it 5 times at the ABC in Glasgow, and twice in my town's local cinema.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a film at the cinema more than once although I have watched them on Video/DVD/TV a few times so s I suppose that's no different. Is "Superman the movie" your favourite superhero film?
ReplyDeleteI've just bought a new laptop myself, McS. Still trying to familiarise myself with it. My old one was a Dell Inspiron, my new one is an HP Envy.
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It was for many a year, McS (not MsC as I typed somewhere above), but there's been so many good ones in recent years that it's now difficult to tie it down to just one.
The 1978 Superman is still one of the best superhero films (Christopher Reeve actually looks to me like he's been inked by Murphy Anderson, if that makes any sense), as is Superman 2, although I did enjoy the first Iron Man film and the first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man- perfect casting for Peter Parker in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI am going to wax poetic here. This is one of my favorite Beach Boys songs, Don't Worry Baby. When I moved to California I bought a 64 red Corvette. It only had an am/fm radio and I would listen to the oldies station. We lived near the coast and I would drive on Pacific Coast Highway and sometimes the Beach Boys would come on and I realized I bought a time machine. I remember that car and girls from college and they will, just like the video, always be young and summertime on the beach in California. And it was an old song then! But the ability of this song to create nostalgia works for me on a personal level. https://youtu.be/SvZHoF0A9WQ
ReplyDeleteI liked those films as well, DS, though I was disappointed in Superman 2. I also like the first Michael Keaton Batman movie, but the rest of them disappointed me. The Captain America, Avengers, and X-Men movies have also been good.
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Happy memories, eh, PS? What age were you when you moved to California and did you go surfing? And what happened to the red Corvette?
Sold it back in 1997 when it started smoking on fire! Short in the ignition. Became too unreliable.
DeleteMoved to Cali when I was 17 after ten years in London.
Once when I was sitting on my boogie board and going boarding with my son, we say sailing ships in the harbor doing a fake sea battle for the holidays and I thought - I can’t believe I’m sitting here going boogie boarding on the Pacific Ocean. It’s like some sort of dream.
Awww unfair Phil, who can compete with the memory of a 64 red Corvette driving in California and with the Beach Boys song "Don't worry baby" playing - that's the dream!! Somehow driving my 2017 Mazda 2 on a rainy night on a Hamilton with pot holes and the Proclaimers on the radio hasn't the same appeal!!
ReplyDeleteI can compete, McS - driving along Kelvin Road in a Nobel 200, singing 'The front of the car, they cannae sing...' Ah, those were the days.
ReplyDeleteI've mentioned this before but the only 45rpm single I ever bought was "Last Christmas/Everything She wants" by Wham! which I bought as a Christmas present for my sister in 1984 because she was a huge George Michael fan. Neither of us owned a record player but I thought she might like it as a memento. Nowadays "Last Christmas" re-enters the Top 40 every December!
ReplyDeleteHad that been me, CJ, I'd have bought her a record player for her Christmas and she could've bought whatever records she wanted. But at least now we all know why your middle name is 'Scrooge', ya meanie. Hee hee!
ReplyDeleteSo you were a Londoner from the age of 7, eh? Do you ever have dreams where you're still there, and are surprised to find that you're not when you wake up?
ReplyDeleteI do often think back. Aa a friend of mine said, the formative years . Definitely the most influential music times. Even though I was still a kiddo in the 70s I find I like the music from that era more than the 80s when I was a young adult . It must have been Top of the Pops and Pan’s People.
ReplyDeleteAh, Pan's People. Now you're talking, PS. Everybody of a certain age remembers them - fondly.
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