January 25 2014, Saturday
Songs
Our brain works strangely. Old
songs don’t just bring back vivid pictures but also the scent associated with
the scenes. It is said that everybody has a song in his or her head. In my case,
I have several and all from the 1960s when I was barely 20.
I bought a record player with my
first pay cheque as a birthday gift to my father. The first record was a single
- San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some
Flowers in Your Hair) sung by Scott McKenzie. The scene was my father
sitting in the armchair and the scent was his Camel cigarette. He would play it
again and again! I was so enchanted by both the tune and the lyrics that I swore
I would visit San Francisco. That only came true in 1988. Here is how the song
begins:
If you're going to
San Francisco
Be sure to wear
some flowers in your hair
If you're going to
San Francisco
You're gonna meet
some gentle people there
The next one is Massachusetts sung by the Bee Gees. My
mother loved the song saying that the boys were all so handsome. The scene was
my mom cooking and humming and the scent was aroma of the pork stew, my
favourite dish. Here you go, the beginning of the song:
Feel I'm going back
to Massachusetts,
Something’s telling
me I must go home.
And the lights all
went out in Massachusetts
The day I left her
standing on her own.
The last one is Kiss Me Goodbye sung by Petula Clark.
This song was so popular in 1968 that every record shop was blasting it out
loud. Then in where The Shun Tak Centre is now was the old Macau Ferry Piers with
the Sheung Wan night market in front of it. Cooked food stalls where people
enjoyed their hot-pots in open air almost filled the whole space. It was winter
and chilly but the steam and the noise brought warmth. Big plates of vegetables
and seafood were piled one on top of another. I could still smell the succulent
crabs boiling in the hot soup! This song beautifully and concisely sums up the
feeling of lost love. Here are some lines of the lyrics:
So kiss me goodbye
And I'll try not to
cry
All the tears in
the world won’t change your mind
There’s someone new
And she’s waiting
for you
Soon your heart
will be leaving me behind
