Monday, February 27, 2006

Should we only fear Country Music?

I spent 2 years of my life at university in digs with the Catholic Chaplain. One day he confronted me and asked if I suffered from tunes in the head. I knew immediately what he was talking about and confessed on the spot. I suppose I had been whistling monotonously, but tunefully in those days, a piece of some damn tune which had infested my brain. I have been a martyr to the condition ever since.

Recently I have been aware of a tune played on the piano. It is associated with a TV advertisement for a foreign car. Aren't they all? It is heart stoppingly beautiful. The tune that is not the car.

I may have heard it before but I cannot place it in the Great Order of Things. I am now going around tunelessly whistling the music.

I am greeted by derisive howls of
"They are playing your tune dear!"
from the sofa every time the ad appears. This is driving me to distraction.

Was the tune created for or targeted at men of a certain age and social background?
Is it a crude attempt at seduction?
I suspect it is something far more sinister. How did they know it would infest my brain?
I now think my only salvation is to ring the free phone number of the company that makes the car and beg them to tell me what it is.

Why do I need to know? I just do. Until I know what it is the thing will go round and round in my head and I will get no peace.

A famous blues musician who had lived a hard life was asked on his deathbed if there was anything he feared - "Only Country Music" he replied.

I might have agreed with him, once!