Friday, October 13, 2006

We didn't start the fire

Grammy award nominees 1989. In terms of the Grammy's this is by far the year I remember most. I'm not sure why .. maybe after this we grew up to Pink Floyd and no longer cared for the more contemporary music (which personally I feel has gone down hill since then) or perhaps it's to do with the launch of cable television in India soon after. Till cable TV hit us, we had very selected TV viewing more out of a lack of choice than discipline. One of the big must watch' was the programme on Doordarshan in which they showed the videos of the Grammy nominated songs. To this day I vividly remember 'We didn't start the fire' and 'Don't worry, Be Happy'. Found the videos on YouTube and linked them for the other '80s kids.

The other thing that the song represents to me is how much times have changed. Not because of the lyrics .. though that was actually a great lesson in world history for me! But the way we look up information. When this song was released we got the cassette and played it over a 100 times with our ears glued to the speaker to get the lyrics. After we got our version of it (I say our version because we never managed to decipher some of the words like 'liberace', 'toscanini' & 'payola' and put in our own substitutes for them), we then set about researching it. It was a painstaking process looking up the encyclopedia in the school library, asking my mother for hints for ones I couldn't directly reference. By the end of it I knew about a lot of events and with all the effort in researching even learnt the lyrics. . .which to this day comes naturally to me as soon as the song is played. And this is not just with me, I've met lots of friends who can sing along with 'We didn't start the fire'. So getting back to the point of changing times, today, all I need is a search engine to get not only the correct lyrics but I also get a neatly laid out page detailing out all the events. Researching is just so much easier these days. I wonder if the amount of time put in has anything to do with the amount you retain but then the richness you get is unparalleled. The impact of Internet on our lives is for another day. . .for now I'll go play my favourite Billy Joel album.. I still like listening to music on my system rather than some radio channel on the net. Oh no, I clearly see the generation gap setting in !!

6 comments:

Kochukandhari said...

LOL _ I so feel you on the trying to figure out the lyrics of songs.

Mr. J said...

That was one really neat song. On Doordarshan, it was perhaps aired on the Eurotops.

Ohh and you rem. DeeDee's comedy show?

Me singing this song now :D

Pea said...

[Beks] Did you also get messed up words in the lyrics deciphering attempts?

[John] ..and also World this week, Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot ..and ofcourse Krishi Darshan - it used to feel like they forever showed only Krishi D.

Mint Chutney said...

LOL! It's the same thing with "It's The End of the World As we Know It" by REM.

Pea said...

[Mint Chutney] Yes that one too :) !!

Anonymous said...

anybody has the vhs rip of the Musikladen Eurotops which was broadcast in the late 80s on Doodarshan
Exchange / trade is possible