while you're ahead…

When I was 14, still living in Italy and attending highschool, during the days before MTV entered our lives and approximately 6 months before I even knew who Bruce Springsteen was, a new programme appeared on television every lunchtime at 2.00pm.  Right after lunch (and didn’t it make us eat quicker or what) and before homework… It was called Deejay Television and all it was was 30 minutes of unadulterated music videos.

BANG.

So cool.

Nowadays videos are not a big thing… at least not amongst my boys, they never talk about it anyway, but back then… videos were huge.  It was the only chance to ‘see’ your favourite singers or bands, not just listen to their voices or look at a static photograph on the cover of an LP.  (Sigh… remember those?)

Anyway, this programme had also had the genius idea of playing a video every day with the lyrics of the song running along the bottom of the screen, karaoke style.  It might not seem a big deal to you if you’ve grown up in an English speaking country, but for us foreigners it was the chance of finally trying to understand what the songs were all about.  It also highlighted how the 80s were definitively not a good decades for lyricist… oh dear… (I mean I loved the Spandau Ballet… but ‘we are gold’… it’s not a good line, or Bros, remember them? ‘When will I, will I be famous? I can’t answer that, I can’t answer that’…  or Culture Club (Boy George used to terrify my very conservative father by the way) ‘war war is stupid and people are stupid’… sigh… although the latter one is kind of still pertinent nowadays sadly..)

Incidentally that is how I began to learn English outside school.  To these days I haven’t met anybody else who has translated every single Bruce’s song (till Born in the USA album anyway)… I must have been mad.  I wished I’d kept those sheets though, they’d probably look hilarious now.

So to cut a long story short I’ve decided that this blog needs a little music and whilst I’m not a huge Keith Urban’s fan (he needs to brush/comb his hair most of the time) this song has been in my head for the past few days.

Incessantly.

I was going to show you the actual video made for the song… but I hate it.. so you get the man himself in all his uncombed glory.  The dude can sing alright.

AND if you don’t find yourself … swinging side to side at least… when you listen , there’s  something seriously wrong with you and you need to seek help.

Just saying.