Grannymar

Yesterday I tried to answer a few questions. With one of my answers I gave away a snippet from my past. Mention was made of the good old days of Radio Luxembourg. The DJ who joined us for Christmas 1971 in Wiesbaden was Bob Stewart. The stories he told certainly made us laugh and the time passed in a flash. Alas, he had to leave us early on Boxing Day to drive back and open up the Station at 6pm. A tuck box was filled with tasty goodies and there was a special request for some of my Christmas pudding. (I plan to include it for a Food Monday in the autumn.)

In the picture above is Bob Stewart on the left with Mark Wesley and Peter Powell. I think it is from around 1977. The one below of Bob is how I like to remember him.

So what were we listening to all those years ago?

Ernie the Fastest Milkman in the West, Sung by Benny Hill was the No.1 for several weeksaround that Christmas.

Top Twenty August 1 1965, the year I left school.

1. Help! Beatles (Parlophone)

2. You’ve got your troubles Fortunes (Decca)

3. We gotta get out of this place Animals (Columbia)

4. Mr. Tambourine man Byrds (CBS)

5. Catches if you can Dave Clark Five (Columbia)

6. Tossing and turning Ivy League (Piccadilly)

7. There but for fortune Joan Baez (Fontana)

8. Heart full of soul Yardbirds (Columbia)

9. With these hands Tom Jones (Decca)

10. Wooly Bully Sam the Sham (MGM)

11. In the middle of nowhere Dusty Springfield (Philips)

12. Summer nights Marian Faithfull (Decca)

13. Everyone’s gone to the moon Jonathan King (Decca)

14. He’s got no love Searchers (Decca)

16. Zorba’s dance Marcello Minerbi (Durium)

17. A walk in the black forest Horst Jankowski (Mercury)

18. Too many rivers Brenda Lee (Brunswick)

19. Say you’re my girl Roy Orbison (London)

20. I’m alive Hollies (Parlophone)

Weekend Chart New Musical Express (Saturday, July 31, 1965).

And almost a year later:

Top Twenty from Sunday June 26 1966.

1. Paperback Writer Beatles (Parlophone)

2. Strangers In The Night Frank Sinatra (Reprise)

3. Monday, Monday Mama’s and Papa’s (RCA)

4. Sunny Afternoon Kinks (Pye)

5. Don’t Answer Me Cilla Black (Parlophone)

6. River Deep-Mountain High Ike and Tina Turner (London)

7. Nobody Needs Your Love Gene Pitney (Statesite)

8. When A Man Loves A Woman Percy Sledge (Atlantic)

9. Promises Ken Dodd (Columbia)

10. Sorrow Merseys (Fontana)

11. Paint It Black Rolling Stones (Decca)

12. Don’t Bring Me Down Animals (Decca)

13. Over Under Sideways Down Yardbirds (Columbia)

14. Hideaway Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky Mick and Tich (Fontana)

15. Wild Thing Troggs (Fontana)

16. Sloop John B Beach Boys (Capitol)

17. It’s A Man’s World James Brown (Pye Int.)

18. Get Away Georgie Fame (Columbia)

19. Bus Stop Hollies (Parlophone)

20. Lana Roy Orbison (London)

New Musical Express (Wednesday, June 22, 1966).

So how many of these do you remember?

We all have sounds stored in our memory banks. Sounds that can bring you right back to a particular place, or to a moment in time.

The rhythmic sound of mammy beating/creaming butter and sugar in a large delft baking bowl with a wooden spoon, it was the first stage in the making of all cakes. Remember it was before we had food processors and electric mixers.

The pressure cooker sounding like a steam train as it came up to pressure. It was used at least twice a week to boil marrow bones or chicken carcases for the making of stock for soup. Once cooked, the bones were soft; the liquid was put through a strainer and left to cool, usually overnight. The following morning the liquid had set like a jelly with a layer of solid fat on top.

Irish dancing on the radio – No not me! It was ‘Take the Floor’ on Radio Eireann, with Dingo the presenter calling out the steps like they do in square or barn dancing, while we heard the music and the sound of the dancer’s feet.

The sound of coal or logs cracking brightly in the hearth on a cold winter’s night…

And singing voices… Around the fireside in our house when visitors came, everyone had their own song:

‘An Cuileann’ (The Coulin).* sung by my maternal grandmother right up to her 80th year. An Aunt and Uncle with their rendition of the love duets from the Shows, Bitter Sweet, Bless the Bride and Rose Marie to name a few.

There was Nora from Cork who always sang ‘If I were a blackbird’ leading to songs that included many of the 32 counties on this Island of Ireland. These included Rose of Tralee, The County of Armagh, Galway Bay, Come back Paddy Reilly and The Kerry Dances, The Mountains of Mourne, Skibbereeen and Danny Boy.

I vividly remember following a wedding, one of the guests, a gentleman from Derry singing a hauntingly beautiful version of ‘She moved through the Fair’. I never met him before or since, but when I hear that song I am back there beside the fire transfixed!

My final musical memory for now takes me back to the early 70’s, when I was involved with a musical society in Dublin. We attended the annual AIMS (Association of Irish Musical Societies) Awards weekend during the month of May in Waterford. The hotel was fully booked by the members with the overflow staying at other hotels and B&B’s in the area. The atmosphere was very similar to that of the recent Irish Blog Awards, a large group of people of very different ages and from all walks of life, friendly and inclusive, with everyone sharing information and stories of shows they had performed.

The Awards were presented on the Saturday night at a dinner, and naturally with a common interest in music we sang the night away finishing every year at 6am with the members of St Agnes’ Belfast, and The Glasnevin (Dublin), the largest of the Societies leading us in six part harmony of ‘All in an April Evening’! Once again whenever I hear that sung I am back with those wonderfully talented people.

What sounds move your heart?

* I found an instrumental version of ‘An Cuileann’ by J.J. Sheridan on Soul of the Irish Piano