This is my response to the earlier Flashback Track Friday prompt, where today we are thrown the track Wah Wah and asked to answer:
What conversation would you like to have with your parents, that you never had yet?
I set the prompt this week and I already offered an answer from my point of view. So I thought I’d answer it from my daughter’s perspective. While I had an averagely close relationship to my mother, she and my daughter were inseparable, and when Grandma died, it hit my daughter, just eleven at the time, very hard. So I’ve tried to construct my poem as an eleven-year-old might to describe that event.
This is my response to the earlier Flashback Track Friday prompt, where today we are thrown the track Momma Told Me and asked to answer:
What did your momma tell you?
At home, as my bedtime drew near, My mom made her wishes quite clear, That before my last blink, I should visit the sink, And, with soap, wash face, neck and ears.
or
I despaired of my homework, lost hope, So I swore at my mum, couldn’t cope, Then before I could blink, She dragged me to the sink, Where she there washed my mouth out with soap
I don’t remember much about my mum, in terms of pearls of wisdom. But I did jot down some random memories about her. I don’t mean them to be positive or negative, they’re certainly not a eulogy, just recollections. But I’ll stick with prose for the rest of the response ‘cos it’s easier to understand.
KK put this track live this morning for our Flashback Track Friday prompt. Today, she’s honed in on it being Mothers’ Day in the USA and is asking a very maternally-themed question today.
Why not have a pop, if you feel inclined? My mum died 9 years ago, so I’ll have to pout my thinking cap on (again) to come up with something a bit later.
Welcome to Flashback Track Friday. Each week, either KK or Mister Bump will present a song to you, and out of that song, will prompt you with a question.
It’s wonderful when you can keep rediscovering the power of song. This is definitely true of of the track “Momma Told Me,” originally written by Randy Newmanand performed byEric Burdon on his debut, bluesy solo album in 1966.
This is my response to the earlier Flashback Track Friday prompt, where today we are thrown the Beatles track Tomorrow Never Knows and asked to describe:
what helps us to relax, to float downstream.
I rouse from sleep, I see your form, I hear your gentle snore, I never dreamed, In twist of fate, I’d meet with such rapport.
This is my response to the earlier Flashback Track Friday prompt. Fancied some music today… eventually!
This fresh-faced boy, the new addition, Invisible, no bode, But golden voice betrayed the gift, With which he’d been bestowed..
This crystal-clear soprano, A voice of honey, sweet, From bud to fragrant beauty, With talent he’s replete
A malleable infant, A songbird to perform, His pitch might be an angel’s In holy uniform.
Uneasy moments followed, Not caring to belong, With such abundant talent, What needs had he beyond?
A voice he took for granted, No inkling of the worth, Just something that came natural, A talent had since birth.
Brilliant prompt, KK. I would never otherwise have even thought of this. I have found this with FBTF – that was why I jumped at the chance to get involved. It has me looking in crevices that I had long since forgotten even existed.
I was about eight or nine, and the music teacher at school announced that the local church was looking for new recruits to its choir. I have no idea why, but along with a couple of others, I stepped forward. Within a few weeks, I was the most junior member of the choir at St David, Childwall.
I stuck with it. From this timid creature to start with, I rose gradually through the choir, made a place for myself. I never really appreciated the talent I had, but in hindsight, I must have been good. When the local churches banded together for some event, as they did frequently, I was the one who sang solo. I was embarrassed by this – this ability set me apart when I just wanted to be a part of the crew. There was jealousy from other boys, but looking back I did not help myself. I knew I was talented, I was conceited, I must have been a nightmare to work with. But that’s part of growing up, no? The realisation that we are not the centre of the universe? Bear in mind, I’m probably talking about a twelve-year-old boy here.
I started attending soccer matches. Shouting, chanting, not caring about my voice. As it was breaking by then, I cared even less. And, to my shame, there are no recordings of my voice. I know that this disappointed my parents, especially. I remember wiping over one cassette, not long after leaving the choir. Again, no appreciation of the precious gift I once had.
My experience in that church was very formative, I ended up walking away, extremely disillusioned, and my experiences were the seed for many of the views that I hold today – not views on religion, per se, but more specifically churches. I posted on this here, if you would like to read, but today I wish to confine myself to the music.
So, I lastly wanted to present some music today. It is a solo I once performed, although the version you hear is not me. Not just me, but quite universally, this is a challenge among challenges. . You’re straight in, at the very top of the range, you have to hit that top note clear as a bell, no run-up.
I do wonder, now, just how good I was. I know I took my talent for granted, but I guess we’ll never know how much of it I actually had. But I stood there and performed this piece, to an audience of hundreds. Possibly not as well as this recording, but it can’t have been that far short. That’s how good I must have been.
As my regular readers will have read last week, I have joined KK as a co-presenter of the Flashback Track Friday prompt. Rather than each of our sites containing half of the prompt posts, we thought it would be a good idea to link them all to be together, so we set up a third WordPress site, just to host the prompt questions.
KK just published today’s prompt, so I’m looking forward to publishing a response of my own once I’ve put my thinking cap on. Plus, to reading any other responses to the prompt.
Oh, and if you’d like WordPress to notify you directly, rather than waiting for KK or I to repost, please start following our new blog.
Welcome once again to Flashback Track Friday. Each week, either KK or Mister Bump will present a song to you, and out of that song, will prompt you with a question.
If you choose to respond, your response can be anything – a poem, a short, some music, an image, anything you like. Be creative.
“Cosmic Dancer” is a hit track off of T. Rex’s 1971 album, Electric Warrior, often cited to be the first glam rock album of all time. My two sisters and I enjoyed dancing to this track in the evenings while washing the dishes.
I enjoyed the song’s crescendo into a long guitar solo long before I knew it was a song about reincarnation (this according to the singer/songwriter Marc Bolan). To me, the song is about recognizing your innate talents and pursuing your passions. In an interview, Bolan shares that he intended the song…
