Music And Me

Every era has a certain style of music that means something special to people who are living through that moment in time .

For me personally growing up with music from the 1960's and 70's made an enormous impact . It almost portrayed the image of the world around me .
I began to think about my own experiences and what music had said .

I remember going to primary school in Belfast and a song called Monday Monday by the Mamas The Papas that spoke personally to me about where I was at . Basically not wanting to go to school on a Monday morning .

This sixties scene created a fashion of the day with girls in platform shoes wearing mini or maxi skirts .

Fellas had long hair and they wore bell bottom jeans with denim jackets .

There were love songs with great lyrics and melodies .
Man landed on the moon .

The roads allowed traffic to flow freely .
There were cars in the sixties , so unique like the Mini , VW and Bubble Car.

Music had opened a window and a fresh breeze drifted in .

Not that I was there , but a part of me wanted to be there at those festivals and open air gigs . There was two in particular I recall . The first as in 1967 a festival called the Gathering Of The Tribes at the Golden Gate Park and in the summer of love in 1969 with the peace and music Woodstock festival .

Music had gone beyond where it had ever been before . Two of the songs that summed up that experience were San Francisco by Scott McKenzie and Stardust by Crosby Stills Nash and Young .

The civil rights movement in Northern Ireland began to get inspiration form what was going on in America between blacks and whites . Certain radio stations began to play protest songs . The times really were changing on the doorstep of my hometown .

There was I with my head in the clouds , California Dreaming and thinking of love and peace when my home town Belfast ,erupted into violence. Daily rioting and running battles between Catholics and protestants brought me back to earth very quickly . In my little village of Ardoyne in North Belfast people were being killed . Suddenly music for me hit a new level .From peace and love to panic and leave . My world was upside down and I had a notion to make a change in my life so I took up a job delivering milk before school for the Belfast Co-Op and asked Noel our local milkman if he needed a hand . I was started immediatly as the rear gunner on the milk float , Ha Ha , it almost came to that thouigh with empty bottle high ijn demand around Ardoyne .

I can still can see my first pay .

I held up this crisp new ten shilling note to see the watermarks come through against the bright summer sun . I proudly walked up to Raffertys Shop and with it I purchased a small transistor radio with an ear phone . I bought a nine volt battery and walked proudly out of the shop .
The first song I heard was Hey Jude and as I looked up I saw a small group of soldiers with their weapons drawn , sitting on top of Rafferty shop . The words from Hey Jude rung out in my ear , Take a sad song and make it better , they said a lot then to back then.

Everything that happened after that moment was revolved around the troubles in Northern Ireland . One of the bands from Woodstock , Ten Years After came to my little village and played on the roof of my school St Gabriels on the Crumlin Road .
It was their way of trying to bring a message of hope for the people of Northern Ireland . That day a massive crowd came for the concert .

Between bombs and bullets the music scene for me took on a new perspective . A big number then in Belfast was Children Of The Revolution by Marc Bolan and T-Rex . After the Beatles broke up Paul McCartney and Wings recorded a song called Give Ireland Back To The Irish , but it was banned from the airwaves in the UK . Other songs that were very popular then for us was In The Ghetto by Elvis Presley , Bits And Pieces with The Dave Clark Five and Catch The Wind by Donavan .

In 1972 my the situation in Belfast was out of control and it was then my parents decided to emigrate to Australia . With only two weeks to say goodbye to all my relations and friends ,a number of songs made in roads to where I was at .
Two songs that said it all back then for me were , I Can't Live (If Living Is Without You )by Harry Nilson and Bye Bye by Gilbert O'Sullivan .

So to Australia we went ,my family and I . Just sixteen and very alone life . Suddenly the normal lifestyle I had known , turned a corner .
I felt lost and left stranded on a dead end street with no where to go . It was hard then for my family . The seven of us here in a strange country knowing nothing and no one. We moved into a hostel in Villawood and the first song I can remember hearing on Australian Radio was The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack . That for me was a powerful moment . Other big songs then were Heart Of Gold by Neil Young and American Pie by Don McLean . Even to this very day when I listen to those songs, I remember the first time I landed in Australia .

Within two weeks I found an apprenticeship and started to save my money buy a car . I bought a Holden Station Wagon and fitted it with an 8 track cassette system . Then for the first time in my life I could buy my own music and play them in my own car . It was brilliant .

The music I loved then, was really propelled by the new found freedom of life, in this strange new land , without war or violence . It was an exciting time and my music tastes were without doubt, wanting to sample everything that as out there .

Janis Joplin , Fleetwood Mac Pink Floyd , Led Zeppelin , Queen , America , Deep Purple , Thin Lizzy , Status Quo , Elton John ,and The Bee Gees .

Some of my favourite songs and bands of that time were Stranglehold by Ted Nugent , Stairway To heaven by Led Zeppelin , Smoke On The Water , Child In Time and Fireball by Deep Purple , Time and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd , Heart of Gold and Old Man by Neil Young , Killing Me softly With His Song by Roberta Flack and American Pie by Don McLean .

My personal favourite albums of this time were Tea For The Tillerman by Cat Stevens , Band On The Run by Paul McCartney and Wings and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John .

During the hard times in my life music has played a big part .The Gift Of Music I believe is always there for us all . It inspires us and carries us .

During the seventies my mind was hi-jacked by hard drugs and I walked along strange roads listening to David Bowie , Craftwork , ELO , Supertramp , 10CC Split Enz and Genesis . For about thirteen years I was not on this planet really and consider myself lucky to still be here .

During a state of confused madness I found music to be my only real true friend . Thank God for people and their music along the way that helped me to get my life back together again . One album I do hold among the best of that era was
Only Visiting This Planet by Larry Norman .
I was inspired by artists like James Taylor and new bands emerging like Irish supergroup U2 .

In 1986 I wrote my first song called Inside Out . My life was on another stage and music began to play a major role in getting out the things I felt .I began to meet professional musicians and managers .

At this time heavy metal was on the scene and that sound reminds me of the hard place I was at then .

With all that dark period behind me I am now enjoying music in a wider perspective . For the past 13 years I have been producing and presenting a radio show here on community Radio in Australia .

My songwriting has continued and in 2008 I won first prize in the Billboard Song Contest with a song I wrote in collaboration with Robert and Wendy O'Hearn . The song is called Lost Sons Of Erin from the album Sonicarious and can be viewed in a video link I'll submit below .

http://current.com/items/88889614_billboard-song-contest-world.htm

Music is still making a big impact in life and I can appreciate God's love for us and the world through music .

The End

By Paul McCann