I always get a bit melancholic on the long drive down the road from Aberdeen. It may have something to do with the good times that I had up there all those years ago and the fact that when I shave in the mornings the coupon looking back at me doesn't bear much of a resemblance to that boy of eighteen, who although a bit of a miserable git was still quite an optimistic fellow.
This came on the ipod today between Dundee and Perth and by the time I had played it for the third time my face was streaked with tears, not sure why, although a beautiful song it doesn't hold any special resonance to me. It could be something to do with that stretch of road. Years ago while travelling on the same bit of the A90 I had a similar experience, although that time it was my own fault. I was playing a tape that I had compiled a couple of days previously. If the truth be told it was quite a depressing compilation, not quite on a par with " You Couldn't Drink This Tape Happy" but on its way. By the time that I got to the same stretch of road that I was on today when John Martyn started, then it was the Pogues version of A Band Played Waltzing Matilda which was followed by a live version of The Green Fields of France by Eric Bogle, some of you may know the one, where Bogle introduces the song with the story of when he visited Flanders after which he wrote the song. I very nearly went into total meltdown, well you would be wouldn't you! I pulled into the next lay-by smoked a couple of JPS and composed myself.
Today I was somewhat wrenched out of maudlin mood when the mp3 player selected Don't Touch That Stereo by Trouble Funk, I put the foot down, gunned the car, well if you can gun a Toyota, towards the M90 and Edinburgh while telling myself to get a grip.
John Martyn - Fine Lines
4 comments:
Nice story Drew. I also fall in melancholic mood when I pass places where I used to be once and suddenly some songs come up in my mind that belong to this part of my life.
mortality does these things to us. bizzarely, i would say that most of the folks who tune in here will feel this way very often. every 6/7 weeks for me, emotional ruin that i am.
I had a similar experience on the M74 today courtesy of Towns Van Zandt
There's nothing quite like September for bringing on the melancholy I find.
I also find that all sorts of music (it doesn't have to have a sad theme) get my tears flowing. It can be embarrassing.
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