Music was my first love

IN THE roaring 1980s, a singer named John Miles had a mammoth hit with a song called Music. It was a masterly fusion of vocal and instrumental and the refrain went like this “Music was my first love and it will be my last: music of the future and music of the past. To live without my music is impossible to do. In this world of trouble, my music pulls me through.”

Though I cannot play a solitary note and my singing is reserved for the shower, I can relate to Mile’s lyrics. I’d even go so far as to say that I was “born to music”.

Here’s why I say this: According to my mom, I had been a “breech baby”- you know the kind of non-conformist who decides to enter the world feet first. Although I was her second child, a breech birth is not something anyone looks forward to. Providentially for mom and me, the ambulance driver who rushed us to hospital was like a cross between Schumacher and a forklift operator. And, as my mom describes it, the shaky ride from home in Victoria Street to King Edward VIII Hospital caused me to “invert” and adopt a more conventional position.

Despite that, mom said that I entered the world protesting and bellowing loudly. Not different from me these days too. Do you know which hit song was played on every radio station during that month of October? It was The Beatles with Twist and Shout.

Music has been called a “hallmark of man’s humanity” and “a divine gift”. Indeed, what would life be without music? It is quite felicitous that the word “music” originates from “muse” which also means to ponder or reflect on meditatively. It has such power to evoke memories, mostly sweet and sometimes bitter.

The saying is “adolescence is when boys discover girls and girls discover that they have been discovered”.

Well, when I entered adolescence, two of the greatest love songs ever written dominated the number one spot on worldwide music charts. They were Without you by Harry Nilsson and Come What May by the Greek beauty Vicky Leandros. Amazingly, but not surprisingly, both songs remain among my favourites to this day.

In the year that I learned to drive, the Swedish pop music phenomenon Abba was all the rage. I recall that on the Friday when I received my learner’s licence, my brother Rajin and I booked to go on an overnight trip by minibus to the then newly-opened Wild Coast Sun. Fifteen of us, including the driver, set off excitedly from Teacher’s Centre in Albert Street and got as far as Amanzimtoti. The driver fell ill and could no longer drive safely. Of the remaining 14 passengers who could drive was yours truly.

However, all I had was a new learner’s driving permit and I had never driven a minibus before. What to do? My brother was confident of my driving ability and convince the others that we would reach our destination safely. With trepidation, I climbed into the driver’s seat. To steady my nerves, I took out a cassette from the glove compartment without looking at the cover and inserted it into the tape deck. As I started up the minibus and gingerly took off down the road, the cassette started playing and believe it or not, the harmonious voices of Abba belted out their hit song Take a Chance on Me.

We were still recovering from the sheer irony of those lyrics, when the group began sending out an S.O.S. Fortunately, we made it to our destination without meeting our Waterloo. That is one drive on the wild side that I will never forget. The aforementioned rock singer John Miles sang that “music of the future and music of the past” was his first love. I have to admit that to me personally the music of the past is my first love.

It was that which allowed me to enjoy 15 years of playing my favourite music on national radio. These days it saddens me to hear of the debasing music that so many of our youth are listening to with the themes of sexual immorality, drug abuse, violence and even satanism. Youth and parents, don’t ever underestimate the power of music and how it can influence your thinking and emotions.

Please be very selective in your choice of music – it can change your life.

* Note this is part one of a three parter on the power of music. It will not necessarily be in consecutive order.

Ravi Govender is a former POST sub-editor and Lotus FM radio presenter. He is a published author, a freelance editor and film producer in training. He can be contacted at: [email protected]

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media. 

THE POST