Homeboys in the house, yo

Timeslip moment again...

We've been spirited into the first year of the Nineties - the year of the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, Geoffrey Howe, reunification of Germany, General Manuel Noriega, the Hubble Space Telescope, Boris Yeltsin, Iraqi invasion and annexation of Kuwait, British hostages held by Saddam Hussein, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tim Berners-Lee, the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Poll Tax riots, Eduard Shevardnadze, IRA assassination of MP Ian Gow, Tamil Tigers, Three Tenors, Commonwealth Games, Baywatch, the Strangeways Prison riot, Emperor Akihito, BSE, Pretty Woman, Uachtarán Mary Robinson, the human genome project, recession, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, Days of Thunder, freedom for Nelson Mandela, the arrival of the Mitchell brothers "Grant" and "Phil" in Eastenders, and the removal of the definition of homosexuality as a "disease" by the WHO; the year of the births of Princess Eugenie of York, Poundland, Rita Ora, Emma Watson, BBC Radio 5, RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, Eric Saade, Jennifer Lawrence and Namibia; and the year Sarah Vaughan, the Eastern Bloc, Greta Garbo, Leonard Bernstein, Barbara Stanwyck, Pearl Bailey, Gordon Jackson, Ava Gardner, Terry-Thomas, Sammy Davis Jr., Rex Harrison, Leonard Sachs, Johnnie Ray, Ian Charleson, Paulette Goddard, Roald Dahl, Xavier Cugat, Aaron Copland and Malcolm Muggeridge all died.

In the news headlines in October twenty-nine years ago: the UK government made its ill-fated decision to enter the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) [which led to the "Black Wednesday" crash two years later], former PM Edward Heath successfully negotiated with Saddam Hussain for the release of British hostages held in Iraq, the black-red-yellow flag was raised above the Brandenburg Gate for the ceremony of German reunification, Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and South Africa ended segregation of libraries, trains, buses, toilets, swimming pools, and other public facilities. In our cinemas: The Little Mermaid; Ghost; La Femme Nikita. On telly: The Word, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Keeping Up Appearances and Twin Peaks.

And in our charts this week in 1990? Maria McKee's Show Me Heaven continued its run at #1, and Status Quo, Londonbeat, Pet Shop Boys, Technotronic, The Beautiful South, MC Hammer, Deeee-Lite, Bass-o-Matic [nope, me neither] and - ahem! - Bobby Vinton were all present and correct. However, still haunting the Top Ten was this long forgotten and bizarrely-already-dated number from a Dutch combo called Twenty 4 Seven:

Twenty 4 Seven feat. Captain Hollywood - I Can't Stand It

I can't stand it no more, no no no!

Apparently.

She is shaking her umbrella

While waiting for this miserable weather to clear, it's time for another timeslip moment...

Back we hurtle to this week twenty-five years ago to 1990 - an era when the "Iron Curtain" was rusting across Europe (with the forthcoming union of East and West Germany, and liberty for Armenia and Bulgaria just the latest in the news), war in the Persian Gulf was looming, Apartheid in South Africa was being dismantled, BBC Radio 5 was launched, the first series of Stars in Their Eyes was won by Maxine Barrie performing as Shirley Bassey, Darkman, Ghost and Wild at Heart were in the cinemas - and a largely overlooked folk singer from Greenwich Village had a completely unexpected dance hit, her biggest-selling of her career...

Here's Miss Suzanne Vega (for it is she), remixed by two DJs from the beautiful English town of Bath under the name "DNA":

DNA vs Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner

I am sitting
In the morning
At the diner
On the corner

I am waiting
At the counter
For the man
To pour the coffee

And he fills it
Only halfway
And before
I even argue

He is looking
Out the window
At somebody
Coming in

"It is always
Nice to see you"
Says the man
Behind the counter

To the woman
Who has come in
She is shaking
Her umbrella

And I look
The other way
As they are kissing
Their hellos

I'm pretending
Not to see them
Instead
I pour the milk

I open
Up the paper
There's a story
Of an actor

Who had died
While he was drinking
It was no one
I had heard of

And I'm turning
To the horoscope
And looking
For the funnies

When I'm feeling
Someone watching me
And so
I raise my head

There's a woman
On the outside
Looking inside
Does she see me?

No she does not
Really see me
Cause she sees
Her own reflection

And I'm trying
Not to notice
That she's hitching
Up her skirt

And while she's
Straightening her stockings
Her hair
Has gotten wet

Oh, this rain
It will continue
Through the morning
As I'm listening

To the bells
Of the cathedral
I am thinking
Of your voice...

And of the midnight picnic
Once upon a time
Before the rain began...

I finish up my coffee
It's time to catch the train

Either one of the most contagious, or the most annoying, songs ever, depending on where you stand...

Suzanne Vega on Wikipedia