The World-Famous Official ‘Spill 30-Day Musical Challenge
(Rules)
Day 22 topic: a song from your childhood
Please include song name & artist in your post for Chris
.
The World-Famous Official ‘Spill 30-Day Musical Challenge
(Rules)
Day 22 topic: a song from your childhood
Please include song name & artist in your post for Chris
.
Another one that my mum is responsible for (having played it to/with us as kids):
Tom Paxton: Last Thing On My Mind
This is one my dad used to sing too. I also had an album of Tom Paxton children’s songs (Jennifer’s Rabbit, The Marvellous Toy).
The Scaffold – Lily The Pink.
I’ll explain later.
Donds to this. My brother and I used to act out the lyrics to this and two of the songs I’ve mentioned below – Brand New Key and Two Little Boys. This one was particularly exhausting because it stuck on “poor Lily died – poor Lily died – poor Lily died…” so we had to throw ourselves on the floor over and over again.
Emergency….floodgates are open…I repeat, flood gates are open…the memory banks have been raided…run for cover!
Thanks, May.
I’ve explained before that this is the first song I have a retained memory of hearing. Even now, I can picture the just-turned-3-y.o. me and my mum singing along and dancing around the blue Formica-topped table in the kitchen of our house in Ulverston (no, I’m not a born Merseysider: we moved to Widnes the following year).
Two Little Boys is another good shout, though my first choice Rolf would be either Jake The Peg or The Court Of King Caractacus.
Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker quartet – Frenesi.
It’s the second of two tracks here. I listened to a lot of jazz with my dad when I was growing up, this is one of the pieces of music which most reminds me of that time.
Er- Second of three.
I’ve written before about the Singing Together BBC schools music programme, which I listened to while I was at primary school, and from which I learned my first folk songs. It was a great thing. This was one of my favourites then.
When I got my first guitar, I bought a book of American folk songs so that I could learn the chords, and this was in it. So it’s been following me round for a while.
Very nice of Mudcrutch to revive it for me, I think.
Shady Grove by Mudcrutch
Yes, happy memories of “Singing Together”.
Goodness, DP, but you’re so young – I had no idea it had kept going!
This will date me quite accurately. The first album I asked for and had for my birthday was Adam and the Ants “Kings of the Wild Frontier”, I had seen Adam singing Ant Music on TV and thought they looked interesting and sounded great, I think it has aged quite well
[youtube= http://youtu.be/bPjfD8ulnpw%5D
I still have a soft spot for Adam, his autobiography was illuminating.
It could be anything by The Beatles really, but some of their songs probably make more of an impression on small children than adults. Like this one:
The Beatles – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
Toss-up between this and Two Little Boys, the first record I ever possessed, and then, if it’s a three-sided coin, with Horse With No Name, a song that has retained the exact same place in my affections for the better part of 40 years. But this one wins out because of the circumstances by which it came into the family home – on a 7″ flexidisc EP (also featuring Look What They’ve Done To My Song, I Am Not A Poet and some other piece of Canadian kooky folkiness) that came free with a jar of honey – Melanie, you see. This is more Canadian folky kookiness, no longer brand new but it still unlocks something inside:
Melanie – Brand New Key
And yes, she’s not Canadian – I was thrown by her singing in French on Look What They’ve Done… I think this knowledge just leaves me slightly disappointed with the Canadians – is that a bit harsh?
Just made me happy.
Sigh
From the pile of 78′s from Mum & Dad’s Hammy Palais dancing days:
Jim Lowe – Green Door
Not sure how others here will react to this song but it is enormously powerful for me, just hearing it can cause tears. It was so symbolic of a time in my life that was so memorable and significant. On a more personal level I remember being on Sheffield’s LMS station with my aunt when I was about 8, I was on the train leaning out of the carriage window, she was seeing me off; she sang this song to me. There’s tears running down my cheeks.
One of the earlier childhood songs that i remember being my own taste as opposed to being forced on me. A few early Beatles and Stones in there too – Day Tripper, Under My Thumb, Lady Jane, Please Mr. Postman, etc
Monkees – I Wanna Be Free
Wow I had forgotten this one. Really is lovely isn’t it.
It is, but listening to it now, it sounds a bit more treacly than i remember it. But still lovely. All i can think of though is that saying “scratch a man…” but substitute female. I still just wanna be free i think.
The Regents – 7Teen
My favourite record when I was 9. Not that I bought it, I didn’t start buying records for another 3 years, but I used to go to a mate’s house and get him to play his copy repeatedly
Good god – I’d completely forgotten about this song. I have the 7″ somewhere up in the attic. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
No problem. Get it out and dust it off – I’ll be round to play it repeatedly.
Sounds good to me!
I saw Tom Paxton about 6 months ago and he sang Last Thing…, great song, he doesn’t look like that anymore, I have some pictures of him.
And Shady Grove is another favorite by Quicksilver.
Experiments with Mice (Theme for a Trio of Sightless Rodents) – Johnny Dankworth
I’m assuming childhood has a cut-off age of about 12.
Definitely from my childhood – the first record I ever bought
The Beatles I Want To Hold Your Hand
The easiest one for me yet!
Two Little Boys – Rolf Harris
All the other girls at my primary school were in love with the Osmonds [and progressed to the Bay City Rollers], but my favourite band was Mud. I’ve chosen ‘Crazy’, mostly because it’s one of the few tracks I can actually find a video for, ‘Tiger Feet’ et al not being available in my residential area. Also, the rhymes in this are quite exquisite – crazy/amaze me etc. – and remind me of the cringeworthy ‘poem’ letters my cousin and I used to exchange at the time..
Mud – Crazy
I’m going to go for a song I almost picked yesterday, my brother and I loved this 45, a vulgarization of Jean de la Fontaine’s fable about an ant and a cricket. Here the cricket is a DDT addict and the ant gets called a stuck-up posho. It’s Pit et Rik’s La Cicrane et la Froumi (sic), there’s a clip of it on dailymotion but I can’t link to it from my phone.
My Mum had been a big fan of people like Ray Noble, Carroll Gibbons, Nat Gonella and particularly, Harry Roy.
I grew up listening to his music (and that of the others mentioned). I can’t remember the names of the two pianists featured on this, but my pick is Harry Roy playing his ‘signature tune’. “Tiger Rag”
An old Top Rank 7″ single that was lying around the house, stuck it on the gramophone …. what the hell is that?!
‘Teen Beat’ – Sandy Nelson
Great track! Barney Kessell was the guitarist on this.
Use to have this on 45. Great tune.
I was nine and I’d bounce around the room:
Madness – One Step Beyond
sorry Chris – forgot the tag.
Chris – now will you tell someone off for breaking the rules???!!!
am I going to be told off?
has this been selected before? – I’m worried now ToffeeBoy!
Causing trouble again, eh, TB? I’ve got my eye on you.
Could it be that the theme of Two Little Boys has wormed its way into your psyche over the years and been twisted into an irrepressible urge to betray others? Hmm? I zink ve should discuzz dis.
Well, you know me guys. A stickler for detail who only gets things wrong about 50% of the time. Yes, shane, I had this for ‘songs that make you happy’.
back to the drawing bored then – sorry – TB.
so many songs – I’m getting lost as to what is up now.
ummm
10 years old then..
Bad Manners – Special Brew
drawing ‘Board’ – what do I sit at all day?
my oh my – not in the slightest bit bored – thanks for pointing out the duplicate TB..
My Dad used to sing and play this on his guitar . . .
Fats Domino – Blueberry Hill.
What a great track to grow up with.
I’ll dond that one. Extended family singalong staple.
Fats in general & Blueberry Hill in particular were a staple at my Uncle’s house. Donded!
Slightly off-topic, but I’ve just thought of a much better ‘song that no one would expect [me] to love’:
JMKE – Külmale maale
I got to visit Estonia just before they gained independence, and this band was really popular (in fact, I think they had a chart-topping hit in other [albeit] Baltic countries with ‘Tere Perestroika’). I bought a cassette and played it until it could play no more!
P.S. Their lead singer was the prettiest punk I ever did see…
Is anyone else really bummed that we only have 8 more days of this?
Yep. I’ll be even more bummed if the MFF doesn’t happen tonight after I’ve waited up for once!
Me, too! I’m giving it another 10 minutes…
Yes, Amy, I am. It’s providing the much-needed blast of relief from work I need this month, utterly replacing any need or desire to go back to the MFF or even RR in general.
(I see JonD’s posted another stupidly-broad topic over there. Leaving aside the very particular reasons behind my one comment … in, what is it, about a month now? … on Tuesday, RR has become so joyless for me, it no longer provides the mental relief valve I need from my worklife.)
If it wasn’t for my enthusiasm for this particular ‘Spill series, I might wonder if I was heading into another period of feeling no love for music in general. I’ve been through that a couple of times before; neither episodes are remembered at all fondly, as they turned out to be merely symptomatic of bigger issues. Hopefully I’m not simply delaying entry to the slough.
So come on people, who’s got any ideas for seeing me through May?
Anyway, back to the photocopying (E2-E4 being a peculiarly apt soundtrack to that dull task, btw), then bed.
G’night all.
Well, i’m half tempted to start a new series when this one’s done. Not going to have the time to do any tabluations or compiliations, and afraid of the wrath of Shoey if it keeps others from doing posts. Or maybe we can sort out some kind of group baton passing for daily topics. It also is a good sub for EOTWQ’s, sort of. Maybe we can sort of pass the baton week by week if necessary. ie someone can take a week, and someone the next, and so on.
Quitting never makes the thing you left more joyful & you can’t turn a ship around if you’re not on it.
Miss you over there. Glad you’re still here. Sorry you’re jaded.
Not convinced that the themes on this “series” are any better or worse than an official Guru would provide. Convinces me that it’s not the game so much, but how you play (or not) it.
Dsd – I think I have to agree. The guru has cast to wide a net again.
The wrath of Shoey can be awful to behold for sure, but if it’s fun, I’m in.
Would like some days off though. Perhaps a weekly theme? Rotating gyrating guru picking the theme. One nom per player, mp3 bunged into a dropbox folder after eloquent justication on the threadoftheweek.
I thoroughly sympathise and am feeling a bit that way myself.
I draw a bit of “consolation” from the fact that the broader topics seem to be encouraging lots of new bods along and that can’t be a bad thing.
this is keeping me sane too DsD and Amy –
I tried to turn the RR ship around… seemed people were okay with the thing.. but it’s not for me.
Trouble is – I don’t believe JonD reads much of the blog at all – his writing is lovely and the 20 are great. But I feel they are from his collection/experience rather than the blog – and that isn’t the point. most gurus have learnt stuff from the posters – he just points out stuff not mentioned*
a large percentage of 1500 people are happy to type out songs – but I’ve finally added ad blocker to the Guardian site and didn’t even read it for the first time in 5 years.
* this is a bitter and twisted opinion only held by me, legal team – I just miss a structure to a theme and some thought put into the wording. Then narrowing them and they’d all be fine.. ha ha.
JonD doesn’t seem very engaged, but neither was early Rob or late PMac. Even dear Maddy let all the colours out in one go.
Can’t decide if RR is not as good as it used to be or if it’s the same as it ever was?
Trouble is, if you try to say anything you either sound like a pompous twat or it starts getting personal.
Anyway, miss you guys over there.
I have to say that i do like seeing the new bods there. Wish a lot more of them got in there before deadline. Seems like a lot of good new noms get in there after the deadline.
Mothership too unwieldy for this topic, can’t keep up. Think i’m forced to just stick to clicking recommend and hanging out on here this topic.
DsD-
Sounds like you’re working too much. Do you get any actual days off for your bank holidays? Maybe you just need a rest and a break and a battery recharge.
Yeah, I think it would be great to keep this going with maybe a week each setting topics [on a voluntary basis!], a bit like a musical EOTWQ. Only thing I’d change would a tweak of the *rules* saying no song to be claimed twice within that question-setter’s week – I think my memory could just about cope with a week if I tried very, very hard…
I do want more questions. It’s great to hear all the stories and have a bit of banter. But, er, maybe someone else can keep score? It’s been fun so far but another week is probably as much as I need of that kind of fun.
Well, if we break it up and dole it out, maybe there’s no real need to keep score then?
I have enjoyed these questions and I enjoy the Spill, but it is only recently that I’ve had time for it again (because I am down to working a one-day week) – if anyone out there gives me a job I won’t have time to look every day.
But in the meantime (which could be a while, at this rate), I’d be happy to contribute / join in/ whatever.
As I said once before, the buzz went out of RR somewhat when they stopped printing it in the paper.
In my (humble) opinion, the best gurus were Dorian and Maddy. Dorian used often to pick un-donded/recommended songs that appeared to have been ignored and Maddy seemed genuinely delighted to discover stuff that was new to her.
PaulMac was ok. As far as I know, I never got an A or B listing from RobF, but some of the things I had often nommed got listed when other people suggested them. JonD seems to be trying hard, but he reminds me of someone who is on work experience. If he manages RR ok then the paper might give him a proper job.
(I’m still annoyed that he might think I would nominate complete shite like “Wooden Heart” ! )
Yes, I too will miss this when it’s gone.
My parents loved Perry Como singing Magic Moments. It’s probably the first record I remember having heard and it conjures up a very specific feeling, even 50 years later. I suspect it had a fundamental effect on my musical taste, as in ‘what doesn’t sound like this?’.
My parents had this one also. Perry was smooth wasn’t he?
My early childhood was dominated by the likes of Perry Como (Magic Moments), Doris Day (Que Sera Sera), South Pacific (Some Enchanted Evening) and Oklahoma (The Surrey with the Fringe on Top) played on the BBC Light Programme.
My dad bought our first record player – a big, bulky Dansette – in the early sixties and with it came a batch of 78s. My favourite amongst them, which was played endlessly, was Guy Mitchell’s Singing the Blues.
It looked and sounded just like this:
Tempisfugit – I love that song. Used to torture my brother ’cause I could do the ace whistling part & he couldn’t.
I was 7 or 8 when this came out & like many of the songs so far I can remember where I was when I first heard it. Maybe the first time that happened. It entranced me immediately & I had that feeling of already knowing it even though it was new to me if that makes sense. Use to happily walk around the block singing it to myself. I think of it has my first own song. I picked it out off the radio so it was mine. Still makes me feel childlike.
Since I Met You Baby – Ivory Joe Hunter
What a great track. This and the re-issue of his 1950 hit, “I Almost Lost My Mind” led to Ivory Joe appearing on Alan Freed’s early package shows. He was stunned to be screamed at and was possibly the oldest “rock and roll star”.
My first memory of music comes from my father playing the piano in the living room. We had a radio but it wasn’t much good and we did not get a TV set until about the end of the 50′s.
He would come in from work, have his dinner, a quick 40 winks in the chair and then sit at the piano and play and sing.
And the tune that I remember the most vividly is one from his Irish roots……………………
I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen.
This version by Joseph Locke
http://youtu.be/X66cIgdcfGs
Lovely choice.
My father played the piano too – he was one of those annoying people who could just sit down and play anything. Unfortunately, that didn’t include anything that I liked.
I can’t believe no one has had Puff the Magic Dragon (Peter Paul and Mary) yet:
or have I missed it elsewhere?
I can’t believe it either, Ali – don’t know where my mind went. Deffo this, and ‘Carnival is Over’ by the Seekers (altho’ I think that’s already been taken) and DsD’s ‘Lily the Pink’, also the Goons’ ‘Ying Tong Song’… I can’t be the only ‘Spiller who listened to Stewpid Stewpot every weekend, can I?
Sadly, no!!
Definitely not alone there Debby – “Consider Yourself” from Oliver (?) seemed to be played at least once a week.
I’ll go with the first song that pooped into my head.
The very first single I actually purchased with my “own” money.
Unfortunately it was Val Doonican’s Walk Tall.
I draw a crumb of comfort from the fact, I understand , that that’s Jimmy Page on guitar.
It’s OK,I have memories of Happy Mount Park in Morcambe and “Paddy McGinty’s Goat”.
There, it’s out there now.
We went to Scotland every year on holiday, to Glenelg on the west coast, a short ferry-ride to the Isle of Skye (before there was a bridge). I learned this on the recorder as well as singing along with mum and dad’s Corries album. We went to see them too, I think they were the first band I saw live.
The Corries – Skye Boat Song
When I was a kid we used to go to Sunday School every Sunday morning and then go visit my Nan and Grandad before going home for Sunday dinner.
My auntie Jean had a small collection of 45s which my brother, my sister and I would listen to every week. We weren’t allowed to play Jim Reeves’ “Old Tige” because it made my sister cry but this got an airing on every visit.
nb – I’m so late to catch up with each topic that I tend to arrive after everyone else has gone. For what it’s worth (not a lot) I just got round to adding Dat by Pluto as a song to listen to when I’m happy.
As some of you may recall, I grew up in Trinidad, so the soundtrack of my young years was calypso and steelband. One song I loved as a kid, and would sing at every opportunity, was ‘Jean and Dinah’ by The Mighty Sparrow. This was written when the US base at Chagauramas closed, and the local good time girls lost their income, lowered their prices, and turned to local men like Sparrow as clients. I like the irony of me, an innocent seven year old, sing about prostitution (with no idea that was what the song was about, of course).
Does anyone know why some you tube links show as a video, and others only as a link?
I’m pretty sure you get the video if you hit ‘return’ after the http line, so let’s try it:
Ah, you’ve actually not copied the full link from the address bar. It should be:
I see that bluepeter and pairubu are having the same problem. Don’t use the Share/link box on youtube, as that omits the site address, use the full address from the browser address bar.
Thanks a mill, Chris. Does that pearl need to be added to the Manual?
…singing…
I had a little crush on Robert Schumann. I loved this. Appropriately, it’s about Scenes from childhood. Here’s half of it…
I grew up with a classical music around the house too – a lot of Bach on BBC Radio 3 every Sunday morning. That’s lovely and a perfect fit.
I’m assuming young childhood here. A couple come to mind
Little Toot from Disney
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZiAkAAb9fY&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0%5D
I would go with the first song I have a distinct memory of and it is
Legend of Xanadu – Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich
For some reason the sound of the whiplash made an impression on me !!