Discussion
I first heard a Chris Rea song when I was about 16 and working in a small shop on Penzance sea front, the owner of the shop spent his time then between England and Germany and when he was back in England for a couple of weeks he would bring new stock to sell and also sometimes leave new audio tapes he had bought in Germany for the long drive back to England in the shop for us to listen to and perhaps play on the cassette player.
I found the album "Dancing with strangers" one late dusty summer afternoon, the visitors had all gone home and the shop was quiet as it was the tail end of the season and I put the tape in and played it.
"Joys of christmas" played out first and I found I was already impressed, the lyrics, the guitar they all spoke to me, then an upbeat with "I can't dance to that" more followed and then I heard "curse of the traveller" I still struggle to find a single song that give me as much emotion and feeling as that song, back then as a 16 year old with little life experience It meant something completely different to what it means to me now I am in my late 30s.
The guy who owned the shop has died, its more than 20 years later I am different but the song is
the same and I can still smell the summer air and feel the heat coming in through the old windows of the shop. That part of my life is frozen in my mind and can be recalled with utter clarity whenever I hear any of the songs from that album.
I still have the tape, I ended up with it when the shop closed for the last time which was not long after I first played it, the world keeps turning but somehow Chris Rea froze a moment for me.
I found the album "Dancing with strangers" one late dusty summer afternoon, the visitors had all gone home and the shop was quiet as it was the tail end of the season and I put the tape in and played it.
"Joys of christmas" played out first and I found I was already impressed, the lyrics, the guitar they all spoke to me, then an upbeat with "I can't dance to that" more followed and then I heard "curse of the traveller" I still struggle to find a single song that give me as much emotion and feeling as that song, back then as a 16 year old with little life experience It meant something completely different to what it means to me now I am in my late 30s.
The guy who owned the shop has died, its more than 20 years later I am different but the song is
the same and I can still smell the summer air and feel the heat coming in through the old windows of the shop. That part of my life is frozen in my mind and can be recalled with utter clarity whenever I hear any of the songs from that album.
I still have the tape, I ended up with it when the shop closed for the last time which was not long after I first played it, the world keeps turning but somehow Chris Rea froze a moment for me.
Wow that certainly paints a picture in the mind. It's strange how music brings back such vivid memories. Mine is of my dad driving us home from the hospice one night after visiting our mum for the last time; Tammy Wynette, Stand By Your Man and D.I.V.O.R.C.E on the cassette player . Chris Rea reminds me of better times, christmas shelfstacking as a teenager at Morrisons, getting into the party spirit and watching everyone preparing for the festivities - you may have guessed; 'Driving Home For Christmas '!
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