We were rich and we did not know it! Vive les 70s!
[Daphne – Albert, the music (imported) and the clothes (as seen only in magazines) were the only good thing about 1970s Malta. The music was a sort of anaesthetic.]
Albert, don’t spoil everything with politics…..rich, we weren’t. Perhaps we had less things to catch up with, and ‘enjoyed’ an easy going life.
When the first oil crisis hit Malta in the early 70s no one dared to fork out so much money on petrol.
While waiting for the school bus on the Blata l-Bajda fly-over I vividly recall a lonely Ford Anglia (like Harry Potter’s car) coming our way at around 35 mph from Marsa where there were the traffic lights near the church and as soon as it reached the small ‘downhill’ incline towards us the driver turned off the ignition and continued freewheeling at a snail’s pace until the car nearly ground to a halt.
And yes that main road was E M P T Y except for the colourful old bone-shaking buses, on a supposedly busy day
I like the choice of songs, but I miss Simon and Art Garfunkel’s “Bridge over troubled water”or “The Boxer”, Elvis’s “In The Ghetto” and a Beatles’ song say “Norwegian Woods”.
[Daphne – John, those are the very ones I deliberately left out because I really couldn’t stand them, even then. They are very much part of the sound track of my children, but in a really negative way. They don’t evoke the spirit of the times for me at all – and I’m not talking politics. The ones I uploaded are all very ‘Proustian’, but the single one which brings on a Proustian flood is The Marmalade’s Reflections of My Life.]
Not to mention Freddie Portelli’s “Se jkolli nghidlek” , Erga Lura, Viva Malta, New Cuorey’s “L-ahhar Bidwi f’wied il-ghasel “ and “Ghajnejn Sbieh”,The Tramp’s “Xemx”.
[Daphne – Some of those are in my Maltese selection further along.]
There were also good Italian songs and singers: Celentano’s “Ragazzo della via Gluck”, Morandi’s protest song “C’era un ragazzo che come me amava i Beatles ei Rolling Stones”,Claudio Baglioni and Lucio Battisti.
[Daphne – A Cat Stevens song that was ruined for me forever by the nuns at school having mandated it as a hymn to be sung in mass, along with Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind.]
I skipped these posts because I was dreading some dreadful political songs from way back when…. songs which never fail to depress me.
But now that I’ve opened them …….What a pleasant surprise!
PS: there is one Maltese song I really like ……It’s a nonsense song …..the words don’t really mean anything but it has a lovely little tune. I haven’t heard it for years and years ….. Somewhere in the song ….if I remember correctly …..there was something about a dog with glass eyes …….Does anyone know which it was? I’d love to hear it again.
Ah, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”. The keyboards bring me close to tears. They don’t do songs like that anymore.
We were rich and we did not know it! Vive les 70s!
[Daphne – Albert, the music (imported) and the clothes (as seen only in magazines) were the only good thing about 1970s Malta. The music was a sort of anaesthetic.]
Albert, don’t spoil everything with politics…..rich, we weren’t. Perhaps we had less things to catch up with, and ‘enjoyed’ an easy going life.
When the first oil crisis hit Malta in the early 70s no one dared to fork out so much money on petrol.
While waiting for the school bus on the Blata l-Bajda fly-over I vividly recall a lonely Ford Anglia (like Harry Potter’s car) coming our way at around 35 mph from Marsa where there were the traffic lights near the church and as soon as it reached the small ‘downhill’ incline towards us the driver turned off the ignition and continued freewheeling at a snail’s pace until the car nearly ground to a halt.
And yes that main road was E M P T Y except for the colourful old bone-shaking buses, on a supposedly busy day
I like the choice of songs, but I miss Simon and Art Garfunkel’s “Bridge over troubled water”or “The Boxer”, Elvis’s “In The Ghetto” and a Beatles’ song say “Norwegian Woods”.
[Daphne – John, those are the very ones I deliberately left out because I really couldn’t stand them, even then. They are very much part of the sound track of my children, but in a really negative way. They don’t evoke the spirit of the times for me at all – and I’m not talking politics. The ones I uploaded are all very ‘Proustian’, but the single one which brings on a Proustian flood is The Marmalade’s Reflections of My Life.]
Not to mention Freddie Portelli’s “Se jkolli nghidlek” , Erga Lura, Viva Malta, New Cuorey’s “L-ahhar Bidwi f’wied il-ghasel “ and “Ghajnejn Sbieh”,The Tramp’s “Xemx”.
[Daphne – Some of those are in my Maltese selection further along.]
There were also good Italian songs and singers: Celentano’s “Ragazzo della via Gluck”, Morandi’s protest song “C’era un ragazzo che come me amava i Beatles ei Rolling Stones”,Claudio Baglioni and Lucio Battisti.
Daph, Thank you for the music….that’s Abba’s!
haha…oh come on…you fell for my provocation like a ton of bricks! Just let a bit loose….
All right, I didn’t know that your comment was sarcastic. Next time put a smiley!
My definition of rich is when one doesn’t want more than he owns.
A poor boy in Sudan can be rich while a millionaire in Dubai can be poor.
Jeez, the memories! Thank you, Daphne.
This is more like it, Daph!
Daddy Cool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5gNYVia2rg
[Daphne – Another favourite.]
Starsky and Hutch signature tune http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN1grF2rXpM, which brings to mind Silver Lady http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QqpTxlewfc
Morning has broken http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWd3skb-Rw
[Daphne – A Cat Stevens song that was ruined for me forever by the nuns at school having mandated it as a hymn to be sung in mass, along with Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind.]
And, to ruin it, “Hawn tal-pastizzi”, by Fr. David . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9j8UkDSIks and “Il-Karrozzin”, by The Greenfields.
Well they still sing the Beatles song “Let it be “in church.
“American pie” anybody?
I skipped these posts because I was dreading some dreadful political songs from way back when…. songs which never fail to depress me.
But now that I’ve opened them …….What a pleasant surprise!
PS: there is one Maltese song I really like ……It’s a nonsense song …..the words don’t really mean anything but it has a lovely little tune. I haven’t heard it for years and years ….. Somewhere in the song ….if I remember correctly …..there was something about a dog with glass eyes …….Does anyone know which it was? I’d love to hear it again.