We all have those moments where we find ourselves singing along to a song we might not find in our record collection. Only yesterday I was joining in with the chorus of Sweet Talking Woman by ELO while walking round Debenhams.
That's one thing but something happened on Sunday which has genuinely unsettled me. I was in Asda (don't judge me, it's close and cheap) when With You I'm Born Again by Billy Preston and Syreeta Wright from 1980 came over the PA.
To give you some context I was a bit of a New Wave and Indie kid. Too young to be a punk but enjoying the energy of the music that fell out of that movement. Disco and these sort of ballads would have got short shrift from me at the time.
I have mellowed a little, I do like some of the more funky disco numbers and mid-80s Prince but I've never gone for these disco smoochers. So why do I now think this song is brilliant 30 years later? I'm bewitched by it. I'm getting shivers watching it again now.
There seem to be several theories:
1) I liked it at the time but it wasn't cool to say so. I'd since forgotten that I liked it.
2) I'm at that stage of my life where I might appreciate this sort of tune.
3) It had some deep emotional meaning to the mid-teen me that is long since lost.
4) None of the above.
The worrying one is 2). I don't mind forgetting things but what other sort of music will I drift into if age dictates what I like. I don't suppose anybody who might be able to shed some light on 3) will ever read this.
I suspect I'll never know the answer but if I do find out I'll be sure to tell you.
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