We need some music therapy, so give us your ‘Lockdown Top Five’
As you look for one song, you are led to many others that lay half buried in your music memory
SO, most of us have plenty of time on our hands and many families have pulled out the old board games, jigsaw puzzles and maybe even a couple of packs of playing cards to teach the kids how to play the likes of canasta or – for the highbrows – bridge.
But today’s technology also gives us the wonderful opportunity to listen to some great music as well as to watch a range of entertainers from comedians to daredevils.
For me, wrapping some earphones around my head and getting a blast from the past gives enormous pleasure.
And it’s not just the songs themselves; it’s the memories they bring back – times, places and people that you associate with certain tunes and words.
I know each generation believes theirs was the one with the best music, but there’s little doubt that the 60’s and 70’s saw the most incredible number of tuneful melodies and meaningful words emerge.
It was, in my opinion, the golden age of music.
Hooray for YouTube, which gives us access to that particular cultural music revolution.
The amazing thing about it is that, as you look for one song, you are led to many others that lay half buried in your music memory.
I’ve chosen a few evergreens that I never get tired of listening to; ones I feel give a sense of emotional balance and perspective to the present Covid-19 crisis.
My first choice is perhaps the best song ever to have come out of South Africa: ‘Paradise Road’ by the group Joy – all the more amazing because of the era in which it was composed.
Paradise Road – Joy
I’ve got two by Glen Campbell, an incredible session guitarist who went on to have an outstanding solo career.
The words of ‘Less of me’ and ‘Try a little kindness’ are an inspiration to humanity.
Less of me – Glen Campbell
Try a little kindness – Glen Campbell
The most beautiful song ever written, and sung, was Roberta Flack’s ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your
Face’ – but it must be the original recorded version, not from a later live show.
The first time ever I saw your face – Roberta Flack
And lastly, from The Byrds the haunting ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’, straight out of the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes.
Turn turn turn – The Byrds
Now it’s your turn, so why not share your ‘Lockdown Top Five’?
HAVE YOUR SAY
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