I originally posted this on one of my old blogs but ti though i would share this here.
Its a Friday night in Dublin and I am doing what I do most Friday nights when I get back from Cork, sitting in the kitchen enjoying a couple of quiet beers enjoying some music. And it got me thinking about where what i am listening to now was influenced by a series of different musicians, but if i think about what is the most influential song in my life i need to think back to 1979.
It was Boxing day 1979 and i had just gone to see Star Trek the Motion Picture with my older brother Dan, it had been a great little outing. I didn't often get to spend time with my Dan on my own, so this was a real treat. After we saw the movie both of us went back to Dan's semi in Chatwood, which he shared with one of his mates.
The TV was tuned to The ABC, the Australian national broadcaster. The ABC back in the 70's and 80's used to put on music videos as fillers between programmes the were meant to have ads, and this happened to be what was happening as we walked in the living room that afternoon.
It was almost through a song as we sat down, talking about the movie we just saw, the the room went silent as this started.
And my life was changed forever. Godley & Creme's An Englishman in New York is the song responsible for sending me down the path of electronic music. There were songs before that, Al Stewart's Year of the Cat springs to mind, but nothing compares to what this quirky and obscure track did to my young mind, and it set me on a path that continues all the way through my life. That is the moment that i fell in love with electronic music. There would be songs after that, like Hyperactive by Thomas Dolby, also seen on the ABC, and Moments in Love by the Art of Noise, but only this song, seen on Boxing day 1979 in the that lounge room in Chatswood with my brother, can claim to be the most influential song of my life.
The video would get replayed over the next 2 years and then it would take me take me another 6 years of searching to find a copy the album that it featured on, Side 1 Track 1, and as technology changed An Englishman in New York was always one of the first tracks that I had to find. It always features in my playlists and every time i hear it I am that 8 year old boy again.