I’m sitting in a coffee bar in Berkeley, which is about my favourite state of being.
There’s been some good music playing … Beatles (White Album), David Bowie (Let’s Dance), Pink Floyd (Murmur).
And I’ve just realised that all the bands they’ve played are British. And that we are disproportionately well-represented in the annals of great pop music.
Ah: now it’s Simon and Garfunkel. A reminder that there are some great American singers and songwriters too.
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I still think 60′s pop music was and is the best — Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys… But then I’m biased, as I was a teenager in the 60′s. Every new Beatles single was a hot topic of discussion at school.
As for Simon and Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was the first album I ever bought with my own money (23/6 I think it was, or £1.18 in new money). Oh the nostalgia!
You think the British are over-represented, what about the Irish? We’ve contributed U2, the Pogues, Thin Lizzy, er, The Cranberries … Enya … Westlife …
Hm. Okay, you can have this one.
Don’t forget the Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, saint Bob and the Boomtown Rats, Van Morrison, the Hothouse Flowers, Declan McManus…
Yeah, English, Irish, British … what’s the difference? …
(Just kidding. Honest.)
Poem is a strange type of literature, isnt it?