Let's talk about the songs you loved as a kid and that you still love today.
The Romantics "Talking in your sleep"
I first heard this song when I was eight years old when watching a chartshow on TV where they played a (Mimed) performance, I had just discovered the guitar and this song reinforced my calling as a musician. Every so now and then I'll put this one up, plug in my Fender bass and play along.
A little national Pride
Doe Maar "Een nacht aleen" (Just one night alone)
When I was growing up in the early eighties, reggae was the mainstream music and I ate for breakfast, I LOVED all of that. UB40, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, June Lodge BRING IT ON! But Doe Maar was special because I understood what they were singing about because their songs were in native dutch. This particullar song was about groupies and the need to have at least one good night's sleep, something that a kid has no concept of. But what the hell, it was at least something I could sing along to which wasn't the case with reggea artists singing in English. I always wanted a blue Fender P-bass like Henny (the bass player) Doe Maar have since reunited and I'll be attending one of their major gigs in a few months.
But the most important of them all is this one.
Stray Cats - "Runaway Boys"
This is the song that changed my life, this is the song that opened my eyes to my calling to become a musician. It was seeing Brian Setzer rocking out on that orange gretsch of his that made it clear that my hands were meant to be around a guitarneck. I STILL love the Stray cats and if I ever meet Brian Setzer I'll ask him to autograph my chest and I'll have it tatood in, signed for life like his music did before.
