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sharonleavy's review
4.0
A thoroughly enjoyable romp through 20 or so of the songs that hold the most memories for TV/Radio host Dermot O'Leary. Not necessarily his favourites - but the ones that have those magical time-travel properties, the ones that instantly bring back a memory. If I had one fault with the audiobook it'd be that Dermot can talk quite fast at times, but otherwise this was really enjoyable and full of nostalgia. I hadn't thought about Brittania Music Club for years - but yes, we also had the infamous "Stars" by Simply Red.
I thought I'd give you a little look at some of the songs that hold the most memories for me - here are 6!
Don't Be a Stranger by Dina Carroll
This takes me right back to 1993, when I was 10 years old and in Primary School. A group of us were all sitting at the back of the school bus, all singing this song. Among the group was a boy in my class named Thomas - he loved playing ponies at break, he was quiet, and sadly - he passed away about 8 years later. I wasn't particularly close to him - but he was the first young person I knew who had died. I still think of him regularly - and I think of that day on the bus whenever I hear this song.
The Day We Caught the Train by Ocean Colour Scene
Released in 1996, the year we went on a family holiday to Northampton in the UK. We landed at Luton Airport, and visited family there before continuing on. My cousin must have only been about 9 at the time, and as we were leaving, he handed me a tape and told me to keep it. It was one of those Now That's What I Call Music! compilations (#34), and it had this song on it. I remember listening to it over and over on a walkman that summer - it has instant time machine power. I'm right there again, 13 years old wearing a million friendship bracelets and neon nail polish.
In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins
Phil Collins: Greatest Hits was released in 1998. My Nana was incredibly ill with cancer at the time (she died in 1999) and it was a tough time for us all. I wrote to a radio station (2FM) to ask if there was any way they could send my Mam a copy of the tape as a present to cheer her up (I was nothing if not cheeky) - I'll never forget the letter I received in response, a lovely kind lady explained that they didn't actually have cassettes to give away - so she had recorded the entire album from a CD on to a tape for my Mum. She had also sent keyrings, pens, stickers for my sister and I. I don't even know if my thank you letter was ever posted - but I'll never, ever forget her kindness and I think of her every time I hear this song and hope that life has been good to her.
Slam Dunk the Funk by 5ive
Technically, my first ever CD was one by Lesley Garrett that came free with the RTE Guide. I had that CD for about 6 months before I actually had a CD player - that came for my 15th birthday in June 1998. The day after my birthday, the first album by UK boyband 5ive was released. I spotted it in Mulvey's shop in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim and begged for it. I got it - and held it in my hands the whole way home. When I finally got home, the anticipation was unbelievable - would it work? What would a CD sound like? Would it be clearer than a tape?! As the first song, this one, began - I could have cried with happiness. I played that CD on repeat so many times that I knew every single word by the third day - and still do (yes, even the "secret" song!). Every time I hear it, I'm 15.
Just Another Day by Jon Secada
When I look back on the Summers of the early 1990s, I remember them as lazy, hot, glorious days filled with bales of hay and picking wild strawberries. Upon googling, July 1992 had above average levels of rain in Ireland - but in my head, it's a summer filled with the smell of Hawaiian Tropic lotion, the feel of stubby grass on my feet as I ran barefoot through freshly baled fields, and being allowed to bring the big battery-operated cassette radio player outside to listen to Atlantic 252 out in the front garden. We couldn't afford the 6 big giant batteries needed for it, so we ran an extension lead out the kitchen window. This song - and Hazard by Richard Marx - make me miss those Atlantic 252 days, when I was sure I was tapping into a radio station directly from America. Atlantic 252 WAS my childhood.
I Am, I Feel by Alisha's Attic
Released in 1996, the same year we went on the aforementioned holiday to the UK. I had never been to an airport before, nor had I ever had cause to be awake at 4am. This year was different - I was almost 13, and our flight left Dublin airport early in the morning. This meant that we needed to leave Leitrim early - so up we got at 4am. A friend drove us to the airport in a rental car, it was red, it was brand new, and it had plastic covering the seats. I was wearing one of those awful shellsuits, shiny lilac bottoms - and one of those thick plastic alice bands on my hair. Just as dawn was breaking, this song came on the radio - I'll forever associate it with that feeling of pure excitement, the thought of going on a plane for the first time, a first holiday, the bustle of the airport, the nerves, the first view of Ireland from the air, the short journey to the UK and the duty free (where I bought Catatonia's album on tape) - it's a feeling like no other.
Never before has a book prompted me to delve into nostalgia the way this one has - I really recommend it if you are also the type of person who attaches a song to a memory.
I thought I'd give you a little look at some of the songs that hold the most memories for me - here are 6!
Don't Be a Stranger by Dina Carroll
This takes me right back to 1993, when I was 10 years old and in Primary School. A group of us were all sitting at the back of the school bus, all singing this song. Among the group was a boy in my class named Thomas - he loved playing ponies at break, he was quiet, and sadly - he passed away about 8 years later. I wasn't particularly close to him - but he was the first young person I knew who had died. I still think of him regularly - and I think of that day on the bus whenever I hear this song.
The Day We Caught the Train by Ocean Colour Scene
Released in 1996, the year we went on a family holiday to Northampton in the UK. We landed at Luton Airport, and visited family there before continuing on. My cousin must have only been about 9 at the time, and as we were leaving, he handed me a tape and told me to keep it. It was one of those Now That's What I Call Music! compilations (#34), and it had this song on it. I remember listening to it over and over on a walkman that summer - it has instant time machine power. I'm right there again, 13 years old wearing a million friendship bracelets and neon nail polish.
In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins
Phil Collins: Greatest Hits was released in 1998. My Nana was incredibly ill with cancer at the time (she died in 1999) and it was a tough time for us all. I wrote to a radio station (2FM) to ask if there was any way they could send my Mam a copy of the tape as a present to cheer her up (I was nothing if not cheeky) - I'll never forget the letter I received in response, a lovely kind lady explained that they didn't actually have cassettes to give away - so she had recorded the entire album from a CD on to a tape for my Mum. She had also sent keyrings, pens, stickers for my sister and I. I don't even know if my thank you letter was ever posted - but I'll never, ever forget her kindness and I think of her every time I hear this song and hope that life has been good to her.
Slam Dunk the Funk by 5ive
Technically, my first ever CD was one by Lesley Garrett that came free with the RTE Guide. I had that CD for about 6 months before I actually had a CD player - that came for my 15th birthday in June 1998. The day after my birthday, the first album by UK boyband 5ive was released. I spotted it in Mulvey's shop in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim and begged for it. I got it - and held it in my hands the whole way home. When I finally got home, the anticipation was unbelievable - would it work? What would a CD sound like? Would it be clearer than a tape?! As the first song, this one, began - I could have cried with happiness. I played that CD on repeat so many times that I knew every single word by the third day - and still do (yes, even the "secret" song!). Every time I hear it, I'm 15.
Just Another Day by Jon Secada
When I look back on the Summers of the early 1990s, I remember them as lazy, hot, glorious days filled with bales of hay and picking wild strawberries. Upon googling, July 1992 had above average levels of rain in Ireland - but in my head, it's a summer filled with the smell of Hawaiian Tropic lotion, the feel of stubby grass on my feet as I ran barefoot through freshly baled fields, and being allowed to bring the big battery-operated cassette radio player outside to listen to Atlantic 252 out in the front garden. We couldn't afford the 6 big giant batteries needed for it, so we ran an extension lead out the kitchen window. This song - and Hazard by Richard Marx - make me miss those Atlantic 252 days, when I was sure I was tapping into a radio station directly from America. Atlantic 252 WAS my childhood.
I Am, I Feel by Alisha's Attic
Released in 1996, the same year we went on the aforementioned holiday to the UK. I had never been to an airport before, nor had I ever had cause to be awake at 4am. This year was different - I was almost 13, and our flight left Dublin airport early in the morning. This meant that we needed to leave Leitrim early - so up we got at 4am. A friend drove us to the airport in a rental car, it was red, it was brand new, and it had plastic covering the seats. I was wearing one of those awful shellsuits, shiny lilac bottoms - and one of those thick plastic alice bands on my hair. Just as dawn was breaking, this song came on the radio - I'll forever associate it with that feeling of pure excitement, the thought of going on a plane for the first time, a first holiday, the bustle of the airport, the nerves, the first view of Ireland from the air, the short journey to the UK and the duty free (where I bought Catatonia's album on tape) - it's a feeling like no other.
Never before has a book prompted me to delve into nostalgia the way this one has - I really recommend it if you are also the type of person who attaches a song to a memory.
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