It's all in the voice....

Growing up overseas and rarely returning to your home country has many advantages and disadvantages...there are huge swathes of 70s and 80s British culture that I am unaware of or have been made aware of long after the event. One result of this is that my taste in music is a little odd, influenced by what recordings my parents had or what became available on the local market. Another result is that although I grew to like many bands and artists I very rarely knew what they looked like, album covers are rarely pictures of the artists...usually graphics and with no international media their backgrounds or ages were up to my imagination.

Whilst I was living in Indonesia I chanced upon 'Old Light Through New Windows' by Chris Rea....gave it a whirl and fell in love...what a voice...he just had that 'je ne sais quoi'.

I must admit to being more than a little surprised when someone finally showed me a picture of him...nothing like what I had imagined. No matter...I still love his music and so many of his songs remind me of many wonderful things....this is one of my favourites it reminds me of living in Germany during a particularly wet, cold and rainy winter.....

Windy Town

Drivin' down from the Highland line
We done some gigs on the Clyde and the Tyne
They flew us in from a Hamburg strip
The taste of Dusseldorf still on our lips

And on the bus there is a friend of mine
We go way back to the scene of the crime
We sit up front and share a cigarette
And try to remember what we tried to forget
He said "Do you remember?"
He said "Do you recall?"
I said "Yeah, I remember
Oh I remember it all"

Every time the cold wind blows
Every time I hear this sound
Late night train shunting down by the river
I remember windy town

We come so far and we move so fast
Makin' hay see it all go past
Around the world and round again
Up and down on that gravy train

Every time the cold wind blows
Every time I hear the sound
East cost crosswinds on a cold wet stone
I remember windy town

The freezin' corners and the empty streets
The burnin' passion and the cold wet feet
Three tricky miles home every night
Dodgin' from the shadows underneath those amber lights

No car for kissin' and no where to go
'Cept inside each other and I loved you so
I held your face as you shivered in the rain
Girl I'll always love you and I love you again

Every time
Yeah every time

Every time the cold wind blows
Every time I hear this sound
Late night train shunting down by the river
I remember windy town
Every time the cold wind blows
Every time I hear the sound
East cost crosswinds on a cold wet stone
I remember
I remember windy town