Friday 14 August 2020


August 1960. During the summer holidays and some months short of my 8th birthday I bought my first record using my own money. The particular shop in Wimbledon Broadway I had selected for this historic moment shall remain nameless, primarily because I have no memory of the record shop whatsoever. No matter because the important part is I do remember the 45 disc I purchased for 6s 3d with pocket money I'd been saving up for ages. Assistance was required by my mother to complete the exchange of money for goods and I scurried off home clutching the Columbia multi coloured circled sleeve tightly in my hands. In the next days, weeks and months that followed I played and played both sides of this single (why a single I wondered when it had two sides). Over and over again, the patience of my parents tested at hearing the same songs all the time, as it spun around the turntable, never once pausing in it's toe tapping beat and its rock 'n' roll.
No.1 on the UK Hit Parade for 3 weeks into August 1960 Cliff Richard and The Shadows 'Please Don't Tease' was also my number one record buy.

This marks the beginning of a four-part connected Music Spot - because, not by chance, the very record that knocked Cliff Richard off the top spot is up next week. 

> There's a 'live' video performance of 'Please Don't Tease', if you want to see them in action, but the sound is not that great. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOf2PCAL_0g


No comments:

Post a Comment