The Sixties soundtrack of our lives, part one

Don’t you sometimes just hear a song and think “this should be in a film”?  I mean the kind of song that brings to mind images of Susannah York - or Michael York for that matter – in the type of movie that is probably set in London or another cosmopolitan city.  Both song and film have to be from the Sixties, ideally.  This is a world of coffee bars with Formica table tops or bowler-hatted men lusting after their dolly-bird secretaries.  Perhaps the scene shows two young lovers walking down a quiet street in early evening, pigeons fly upward as the couple approach them, then our hero and heroine turn a corner and we view them from the back as they disappear into the distance and the closing credits take their place on the screen.  Or maybe the kohl-eyed female lead is leaning out of a window, chintzy net curtains and blonde hair blowing in the breeze, as the camera pans out to the view she sees, of a city full of bustling crowds and red double-decker buses… introducing us to a world we’re going to be immersed in for the next ninety minutes.

Songs which work really well for me which are already in films include the wonderful ‘To Sir With Love’ which just succeeds on so many levels.  Who could fail to be moved by it in some way?  Or how about the superb intro to ‘Up The Junction’…

But other songs are just random singles, lone B-sides or album tracks perhaps, which never did get included in a film score, and I reckon they should have been.  Cue this song from 1968, the B-side to ‘Race With The Devil’ by The Gun.  It’s somewhere in the middle of my imaginary film, and I see a beautiful man, maybe he’s driving along a coastal road in an open-top car, the early morning sun refracted artily on the chrome trim of his MGB.  I don’t know what his story is yet, but it’s sure to be full of surprises, secrets and probably a fair few groovy club scenes.

More make-believe soundtrack songs to follow in future instalments…

London loves, part two

I don’t know what you think of Lulu….but then, actually, I don’t know what I think of Lulu either...   She’s one of those people I feel strangely ambivalent about. It’s like:  feisty young teen singer (check out her version of ‘Can’t Hear You No More’): cool. Eurovision winner with ‘Boom Bang A Bang’: uncool.  The voice behind the wonderful ‘To Sir With Love’: cool.  Being a supporter of Thatcher’s Tory party during the early ‘80s: uncool.  Staying incredibly youthful for her age: cool.  Too much Botox and/or fillers or something?: uncool…Getting machine-gunned, Peckinpah style, in ‘French and Saunders’: cool, etc. etc.  Oh, I’m SO confused!

I do know what I think about this song clip, though, and it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure.  I know, it strays into schmaltz balladry which is not my usual cup of tea, but it doesn’t seem to matter as I just can’t help but like it.  What does it for me though is this film, as Lulu sings her heart out against the backdrop of the Thames from the Embankment, and each time I view it I feel like I’m there too.  I can watch it again and again and imagine I’m walking by, leaning over the wall to watch the boats, or sitting on that bench.  I know it’s not quite like that in reality nowadays – the pavement is usually crammed with people and the traffic heavier. Lulu would probably have difficulty even trying to lip synch with lungs choked by the diesel fumes.  But next time I’m there I’m going to imagine the street is empty and I’ll sing “oh me, oh my, I’m a fool for you, baby…” quietly to myself as those long shadows stretch out across the paving stones, leaves whisper in the trees in a cool breeze and there’s not a piece of litter in sight.  Luckily for me I do have quite a vivid imagination…

Oh me, oh my!  Even that wide-collared yellow jacket and red flares don’t put me off.

I must get to the city again some time soon!