Tuneful Tuesday: Follow Me, Follow You

I'm afraid this week's post has me teary eyed as much as last week's one did.

This week I have chosen a song which has meant quite a lot to me for some time.

It's no secret that I really quite like Genesis.  I want to do a full Tuneful Tuesday post dedicated to my special, sometimes secret, love for Genesis.  But they're very personal to me, and along with the Beatles and Pink Floyd, really are the soundtrack to my childhood.

The song I have chosen today however has me quite emotional every time I hear it.  For two main reasons.

Firstly, it reminds me of my dad.  I'm sure I recall dad singing along to it as a kid (I'm sure mum and dad will contradict me on that).  It was a song I really toyed with having as I walked 'down the aisle' (or rather, across the courtyard) on my wedding day.  This was my plan, until I realised dad and I would be in tears by the time we got to the barn and so I dispensed with the idea.  Something I sort of regret.  The first verse in particular has me in tears.

Secondly, it was on the radio whilst I was in hospital.  I was on the postnatal ward, and over night they had Magic or some similar radio station playing in the office.  I was having my obs done at some point when I heard the strains of this drifting across the ward.  I laughed, and had to explain to the midwife why.  She didn't seem to understand, but hearing it faintly just comforted me so much.

Tuneful Tuesday: You Got the Love

I've been wanting to write this post for a few weeks now.

I don't want to say too much about it.  I loved the version which was released in the 1990s with Candi Staton.  However it's the Florence+The Machine version I'm sharing with you today.

The day I was discharged from hospital, December 22nd 2013, it was on the radio as we drove home.

The lyrics seemed to reflect precisely how I felt about Andy and his support in the preceding week.  Tears came and poured, silently.  Scarlett asked what was wrong with Mummy.  Andy told her I was just relieved; relieved to finally be out of hospital and on my way home.  It's true, I was so relieved and so very thankful for Andy, Scarlett and Woody.

I haven't listened to this since then.  It felt too raw, it still does feel too raw.  Listening to the lyrics again I want to offer them up to Andy; it's true, all the words are true, they really reflect how thankful I am for him and his love and helping me get through an experience I will never fully recover from, in many ways.

Tuneful Tuesday: Kraftwerk

I'm going to introduce one of my (hopefully!) regular weekly topics - Music.

Now, I've said it before, and I will smugly and annoyingly say it again - I have impeccable taste in music....  

I know what I like, and I'm not ashamed to hide it and I love talking about it.  I have MANY guilty pleasures which I will unashamedly share with you over coming weeks and I'm not going to hide from the criticism and yes, my love for the Beatles may well have to feature over a number of posts because my love for them surpasses my love for most other things (no, I lie actually, because whilst yes, I could live on nothing but the Beatles for the rest of my days, if I didn't have a smattering of Blur, Beastie Boys and 1990s house and drum and bass, I might not make it through....)

And so, maybe I shouldn't say I have impeccable taste, rather I have an eclectic taste.  In some ways, I want these posts to serve to help my children in future years understand why mummy has such a ridiculously broad taste in music!  Which not even I understand but my love for many bands, songs and genres runs deep in their own special way.

Which brings me onto my first topic: Kraftwerk.  Now, I'm going to admit, that I'm not familiar with their entire oeuvre, but today I was listening to Autobahn, in the car, on the way to work, as you do and it reminded me of all those times associated with Kraftwerk in my past.  Maybe that's the point of these musical passions of mine, some, though certainly not all, are related to specific times in my past and Kraftwerk is one with a few associations for me.

The first time I remember being aware of Kraftwerk was when my friend first introduced me to them aged roughly 15 or 16.  We were big into Orbital at the time and there's a lot of Kraftwerk in Orbital, listening to Autobahn today made me acknowledge this properly.

I then recall my dad producing Kraftwerk CDs from his collection.  Well, that was it for me.  My dad.  Likes Kraftwerk.  My dad, whose own musical taste I want to delve into in a future post because it is, quite frankly, staggering the breadth of stuff he's into (and probably where I get my eclecticism from - have I made that word up?!)  I really won't delve into his musical tastes as I'll spoil the surprise, but anyway, dad likes Kraftwerk.  Okay, cool.  Respect.

I'll say again at this point, I'm really not familiar with all their work, but maybe, do you have to be?  Do you have to like everything a group has ever done to say you like and enjoy them?  I probably only know a half dozen of their tracks, which, lets be fair, accounts for about 3 hours of music, but I do like listening to them.  A guy at work once told me he listens to Kraftwerk when he has to concentrate and I know exactly what he means.  They're good zone out music.

{As an aside: I'm listening to the Chemical Brothers as I type this; Dig Your Own Hole to be specific.  Andy has just appeared and in his usual cynical way has asked, "What IS this you're listening to?  Anything with whistles doesn't sit well with me".  Ah, my husband, I'll talk about his musical taste another time too....!}

Anyway, back to Autobahn and why I like that track in particular.  Andy and I had been together for approximately one month when he decided to buy an Audi 80 2.8l Quattro on eBay.  We duly travelled by train from Leicester where I was at uni up to Bedale in North Yorkshire.  This car seemed okay and boy did it go like stink (it later transpired the radio was wired in using household wiring blocks and the front wing was stuffed with newspaper but we loved her nonetheless).  We named her Suzi (Suzi Quatro, get it?) and our ear worm of choice whenever we were in her was of course Autobahn.  Because, yknow, she was German....

So maybe, in conclusion, I only like Kraftwerk because they're a bit of a cliché?!  I'm not sure that's the right word (but we certainly thought we were ironic and drole listening to Kraftwerk in the Audi).  To be very simple about it, they're pleasing little ear worms.  And that, ladies and gentleman, is the extent of my knowledge on Kraftwerk.

Oh, and I prefer Das Model to The Model because of the sexy German lyrics.  There, I said it.