22/02/2008 by Steve.

We recently received a subset of ‘official’ photos from a stylish wedding we attended in December, amongst which was this one of Ruby and Louie. Given the situation was posh frocks and lush hotel surroundings, it just seemed to invite a possible caption - any ideas?

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22/02/2008 by Rob.

Can you remember where you were when you first heard a particular song?

In 1986, I was standing in an electronics store in Tottenham Court Road, during my lunch-break. The store was relaying a particular radio station over its Tannoy system. As I was contemplating the stack systems all around me, the commercial break on the station came to an end, and a song started up, one I hadn’t heard before.

I was mesmerised by it. It was brilliant. As it progressed, I thought to myself, “Hmmm…….sounds like Paul Simon singing.”

I had been a fan of Simon and Garfunkel since my mid-teens - in fact, their Greatest Hits was the second LP I’d ever bought, in 1978. I’d also seen them live at Wembley Stadium in 1982, a week prior to the Stones. However, Paul Simon solo hadn’t been doing very well in recent years. None of his albums had done well, and neither had his singles. He was ‘yesterday’s man’, as far as most people were concerned.

I stayed in the shop until the song had finished, curious to find out what it was. “That’s the new one from Paul Simon - YOU CAN CALL ME AL,” announced the DJ. My suspicions were confirmed.

“What an amazing song!” I thought. “Too bad people won’t be buying it because it’s Paul Simon.”

Little did I know what a huge smash it was going to be, turning his whole career around in the process.

(Incidentally, I’ve just checked the song on Wikipedia, and discovered the following two facts about it:

Simon allegedly wrote “You Can Call Me Al” after he went to a party with his then-wife Carrie Fisher. A man at the party kept calling Paul “Al”, and Carrie “Betty”, inspiring Simon to write the song.

The song features an unusual bass solo from Bakithi Kumalo, in which the second half is a reversed recording of the first half.

Did anyone else know the latter?)

There are several other songs that, when I hear them now, immediately take me back to the moment of initial discovery - SHINE A LITTLE LOVE by ELO and STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN by Zepp are just two others - whereas I couldn’t tell you when I first heard the vast majority of the songs in my head. They just always seem to have been there.

Any similar situations out there?

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