Aug 15, 2008

cherchez...

I don't remember much of my tenth year of life. I don't remember most of my classmates' names. I barely remember my teachers.

I do, however, remember about five minutes of an early evening in the fall.

I was walking down the darkened hall, hurrying to the safety of my bedroom.
The radio in the room next to mine was turned on. Passing the doorway, I heard a peculiar, tinny voice. I stopped.
It was this song:



I was hypnotized. I sat down in front of the radio, and drifted off to some other world for those few minutes. I got up and didn't know what to do. No one announced the name of the song. It was gone. No matter how often I listened to the radio, I never heard it again. There was no one to tell about this discovery. I wouldn't have known what to say even if there had been.

The song was stuck in the back of my head, however.

Sometime, about eight years ago, I found out the artist's name (Dr. Buzzards Original Savannah Band), and in the intervening years I've found out more about them. I've found a couple of interesting articles about them, like this one. I learned how some of the members eventually split off to become Kid Creole. I've listened to some of Cory Daye's own music. I've discovered that a number of artists, like M.I.A. Ghostface Killah, Miss Kittin, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, were somehow or another influenced.

When, thanks to the internet, I found the song again, I remember being surprised. It was not nearly as "different" as I remembered it being.

If I'm honest, I didn't really even like it any more.

The other night, however, I found this video and bookmarked it. Since then I've kept replaying it.
It's a glimpse of a lost world, maybe several lost worlds...nostalgia built upon nostalgia built on more nostalgia.
I think I've finally grown to love the song for real now, where I once just had a childish infatuation.

5 comments:

TJB said...

"Cherchez La Femme" was actually written decades before Dr. Buzzard discofied it; I have a recording of Nat "King" Cole" crooning it!

I'd love to say that my musical tastes have become more sophisticated and esoteric as I've matured, but when I was 5 years old, my absolute favorite songs in the world were "Morning Train" by Sheena Easton; "Don't Cry Out Loud" by Melissa Manchester; and "Macho Man" by Village People.

Although I try to class it up a bit by throwing some avant-garde Scandinavian jazz into my playlists, not much has changed.

jason said...

No kidding?! What does good old Nat substitute for "Tommy Mottola...Blowing his mind on cheap grass and wine..."
I'd like to hear that.

And I wouldn't mind hearing a bit of Morning Train myself.

TJB said...

Oh, you know, I just replayed Nat's "Cherchez La Femme," and it IS a different song. For some reason, I remembered the melody being the same, with Les Buzzards just changing the lyrics.

I DO, however, heartily recommend the album from whence Nat's version came, "The Very Thought of You." Among other morsels, it includes lyric themes to "Notorious" and "Magnificent Obsession"!

Muscato said...

I still love "Don't Cry Out Loud," but these days I like Peter Allen - who wrote it, after all - singing it. Something about Manchester just didn't pan out over the long haul...

Colleen said...

I also must declare my love for "DCOL" and most songs that would qualify as "AM gold." But like your experience, it might be more of a nostalgic thing.