Thursday, January 10, 2013

Everything I Own

There are some songs, ageless, which will transport you to another place in time, another place in the world, another home, another life, no matter when or where you hear them again. Just seeing the name of the song or the artist triggers instant replay in your head.

Today, my inner radio is playing Everything I Own. Not the soft-and--romantically-gentle original version by Bread, which almost-maybe-reached the top thirty in the UK in the early 70's, but the gentle reggae version sung by Ken Boothe, which topped the UK charts for several weeks in 1974.

It takes me back to England, to school, to the youth centre and discos and all-grown-up-teenage-angst in Syston; to my ever-young school friends, lost loves, warm summer, still-a-child-really, to home. I see us dancing (and you all know who you are when I say that).

It really is a timeless song; note how many people have sung and recorded it. Bread of course; Boy George, Rod Stewart, Chrissie Hynde to name just a few. Boy George's version in particular was a further progression from Ken Boothe's reggae version; others pulled more from the original Bread/David Gate's work.

And just why did this song come up today? Why has it been playing in the back of my head, ever since I opened my email at 5.45am this morning?

Because Jamaica Jazz and Blues released the full lineup for day one of the festival, and Ken Boothe will be performing!
Opening night (the reggae night) lineup includes Third World, Ken Boothe, Coco Tea, Chaka Demus and Pliers... I am so looking forwards to this! It's going to be a huge event... thrilled to be going!

(If you want to know more about Ken Boothe, listen to Artibella too, as a starting point. You can find his music on Amazon and your usual music-buying site. One example is Everything I own: The Best of Ken Boothe)

1 comment:

  1. I have only just read this - thanks to you I am now also back there in 1974 . . . Your writing brings it all alive again xx

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