PAGE THIRTY-SEVEN: new discoveries

Getting acquainted with Joan and spending time with her at her home in Adamstown Heights taught me all sorts of things: one painful discovery was that there are people in the world who enjoy watching sport on TV.

Joan wasn't a particular fan herself, but her father enjoyed watching the soccer and cricket, and Joan's mother enjoyed watching the cricket and tennis.

I've long thought that George Bernard Shaw summed up cricket pretty well:

The English are not very spiritual people, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity.

But I also learnt a lot about music from going to Joan's place. Her parents had some great gramophone records and Joan had quite a collection, which she was building up, through the wonderful World Record Club.

The only classical music I knew was the pieces I'd played on the piano or had heard in my Elective Music classes in junior high school. I was quite ignorant, because for a long while the only classical record we had at home was an old RCA Victor record of Strauss waltzes.

Later on, Uncle Dave gave me a Beethoven Fifth Symphony LP, and then Mum and Dad bought a few 7 inch records (which played at 33 1/3 RPM) of pieces like Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

But I always gravitated towards the popular stuff, from Lloyd Price's Personality onwards. To me, classical music was like green vegetables: you know you should be eating them, but you tend to gravitate towards the meat and desserts.

But when I actually heard pieces like Mozart's Flute and Harp Concerto or Boyce symphonies, I loved them. I would say to Joan, I love this record and she would reply, The music's good, too. And it was Joan's Mum and Dad who introduced us both to The King's Singers. They had the terrific Out Of The Blue record, which is now out of print, like too many of this six voice male vocal group's recordings.


table of contents

PAGE TWENTY-ONE: music in our house

Christopher, David, Malcolm, Robin, Margaret and Sheena McKay

They say nostalgia isn't what it used to be. There are certain pieces of music that remind me of people and places. But they may not be as memorable to them as they are to me!

When I think of my brother Christopher, I remember playing this movement from Bach's Cantata BWV 140 together: I played piano, while he played the lower part on bass guitar. I've still got the music we used ... somewhere. Christopher used to call it Watch it, oaf!

I hope you enjoy this pleasant performance by Steve Howe and friends. I never knew that he was venturing beyond Prog Rock until I hunted for a nice video to share.

I can remember each of my brothers and sisters singing, but Malcolm was the one with the best voice. He followed me to the Newcastle Conservatorium and learnt from the best singer there, I thought. I always loved hearing William Coombes sing: he sounded so natural. Malcolm used to sound great singing Purcell's Man is for the woman made. He has a baritone voice. All of the recordings I can find are sung by tenors or countertenors. But I think Paul Agnew does it justice.

We had a bakelite radio which looked a little like this one, but it was cream, not black and pink. We heard so much great music on that modest AM radio.

The first piece of popular music that arrested me was Lloyd Price singing Personality. I think Mum was bemused by how much it captivated me. I first heard it in about 1959 and it still gets my heart racing.

I often think of Robin singing the hook of Hello, Hello: who's your lady friend? but I don't know where she got it from. It is a very old piece of music, Youtube reveals.

Margaret used to enjoy listening to the old radio, and I remember her singing along to Dinah Lee's version of Don't You Know, Yockomo?

But although Christopher, Malcolm, Robin and Margaret may have forgotten these pieces of music which I associate with them, I'm confident that Sheena remembers this song, though she was a fan a bit later than when she was photographed with her brothers and sisters for the picture I've headed this page with.

Sheena loved Suzi Quatro, and I think she still does. And what is more quintessentially Suzi Q than Devilgate Drive?

table of contents