There are memories of songs past that somehow strike a chord as well as lines from plays which are equally percipient. The opening of “A day in the Life” and a line from “Private Lives” are instances in point:
I read the news today, oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh
And from Private lives:
“Strange how potent cheap music is” which in some versions is “Extraordinary how potent cheap music is”
The song by Lennon-McCartney is from the Sgt Pepper album and the line is from Noel Coward’s Private Lives, spoken by the character Amanda.
Strange how the mind works. Celia has said for some time that I write too much about gloom and doom, and that there are other things going on, on the planet, which are encouraging, surprising and hopeful. There are a number of things to take in and to do which enhance life in our world and make us very lucky to be living in it.
As I sat down in front of the computer I thought about what to ponder on. I had already looked at the Guardian, watched bits of CNN, MSNow and the BBC. I was trying to think of something pleasant but could only think ‘I’ve read the news today” and the rest of the lyric followed on. This made me laugh and my next thought was ‘how potent cheap music is’ which immediately brought the Noel Coward line to my thoughts and seeing Celia playing Amanda in Private Lives at the Birmingham Rep in 1980 with Simon Cadell playing Elyot. In her version the line was “Strange how potent cheap music is”. Strange how the mind works.
Music is of course a catalyst for thought. The notes as well as the lyrics stimulate memory and everything that cascades through one’s mind as a result of the merest musical phrase or lyric. It is why Desert Island Discs is one of the longest broadcast and most listened to radio programs. Indeed generations can be defined by the music that was prevalent at the time members of a particular generation were growing up. The over the last 100 years, we have had the Jazz age for the 1920’s, in the 1930’s, the swing era grew out of 20’s jazz. It was the age of the crooner which evolved from the nostalgia brought on by the war years from 1939-1945. Consider the popularity of Glenn Miller. Benny Goodman and other big band sounds. From that came rhythm and blues, pop music and by the mid fifties rock and roll, with Bill Haley and the Comets Not forgetting the Doo-wop bunch from The Platters, Dion and the Belmonts, The Four Aces etc.
Along side this was the rise in Folk Music, including country and protest songs. There was a great variety of music finding its audience in the 50’s into the 60’s which defined the hippie era with Dylan going from acoustic folk protest to electric rock. There was a plethora of musical genres during this transitional period from Bossa nova, Henry Mancini, Doris Day, Perry Como as well as mambo, salsa and merengue. In the 60’s the flower power gave us psychedelics with the Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. On the west Coast of America were the Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Vanilla Fudge, The Doors etc.. all following on from the emergence of music from the UK in the form of the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals, The Yardbirds. Singer songwriters were hoping up all over the place. From there on it was almost a free for all with original music from James Taylor, Carole King, Jessie Winchester, Neil Young, Van Morrison, etc.. Then came punk rock, the Sex Pistols, the Clash,The Jam and numerous others through the 70’s into the 80’s. Hard Rock, early Metal and of course Abba, Elton John and the Bee Gees.
Every era has it’s popular music. The various genres have widened and each decade has had it’s favoured groups which have given way to a host of nostalgia programs over the years. I confess that as I have moved into my eighties I have lost touch with a lot of the stuff that is popular today. I surely should have paid more attention. When I watch University Challenge, there is the occasional music question playing a variety of, to me, very obscure groups which I have never heard of, yet which the young students seem to know. On the other had, when certain music from my youth is part of a question, they seem a bit flummoxed, although there is often a young spark who paid attention to the stuff his/her parents listened to, and could answer the questions. What is surprising about University Challenge, is the ‘contemporary’ stuff they know, and the stuff they do not know, particularly relating to the forties, fifties and sixties. History and the antiquities they are usually pretty good, but the years I lived through, and many of my readers lived through, since the 1940’s, is often out of their reach.
It is surprising to note however, how many of those 60’s and 70’s groups and artists have survived into this last decade even though they too are in their seventies and eighties. A lot of them may have succumbed to drugs, alcohol and various other addictions, yet quite a number have survived. What a sturdy bunch we octogenarians actually are. Tee Hee.
Strange how potent cheap music is.
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