Lullabys , Ballads, and Rock Songs.

Brahms lullaby must be the first piece of music to ever register in my brain, because my dad would hum the tune gently to me at bedtime.Sometimes he´d add a few of his own words

¨Go to sleep little one, OR your daddy loves you.´´

l guess it must have worked , because l don´t remember any more than that.

l tried it on my great-grandson recently when his lip quivered as he looked up at this face which was new to him , . l suspect , though that the fact that l put the baby over my shoulder as l gently hummed into his ear, and he couldn´t see my face might have had more to do with it than anything else.

Nevertheless Brahms lullaby is a beautiful tune.

My mum and dad were always singing around the house. Both had such excellent voices.

When Frank Sinatra brought out a song called Nancy with the laughing eyes(or was it laughing face?) l remember my dad telling me that Nancy was Frank Sinatras´daughter, and how lovely it must have been for her to hear her dad singing a song especially written for her.

As l grew up and continued to love music of all sorts, l felt that the most romantic thing anyone could ever do for me was to write a song for me.

Maybe this is something to do with one tiny incident in my early childhood, but it seems unlikely doesn't it? Especially since , in general l became a very unromantic sort.. Sloppy love songs and worse, boys saying sloppy things to me just made me feel cynical.

Like a great ,humorous, loving young man l went to school with. We were good friends,until the day he said he´d been accepted for The Merchant Navy, something he´d always wanted, but it would obviously mean him being on a ship travelling to faraway places a lot of the time.

His first six months would be at college a few hundred miles away., and ... er.. please. (gentle kiss on the forehead , at this point) .... er would l ´wait for him´

Eeeeeek! l couldn´t run (which was my initial instinct) because we were right at my front door. This was his´romantic ´goodnight. He was a wonderful person but yikes! l was 16 and just knew there was more out there in the world than waiting at home for a seamans´return.

All l could do was as gently as possible remind him that we were both 16 and it may be too strong a commitment but l would definitely write to him regularly and we could see how our lives went along. PHEW!!!

Most of my teenage years were spent enjoying the Yippy Hippy days, Having boyfriends , then running a mile once the word ´love´was mentioned. Why? . l´m still working on ´why?´....

When it came to music l loved all the latest love songs, , l´d been writing poetry from the age of 14, so what was it? Maybe l was a romantic at heart, but my head told me there was more to life. l don´t know. What l do know is that when l met my husband to be l knew straight away he was THE ONE.! He made me laugh till l cried., and l think my romantic feelings can be summed up in the first annivesary card l sent him.

Pretty hearts on the front but with a gloomy face,

It read: Ok , so l´m in love with you.....

Inside the card.¨:..... And when l find that cupid l´m going to break his fat little legs.!!!!

l knew l was done for . The end of my life. l was in love and it was too soon.. He was so UNromantic l adored him. (Still do) My friends thought the card l got for him was awful.....

My husband and l laughed for days, to think l´d found a card which explained exactly how l´d felt when l realised l was in love with him.

At the time we both loved Bob Dylan (still do) and his songs were sometimes so deep., sometimes so crazy, there was no fear my sloppy love-song phobia.

l discovered that lDID enjoy love songs but with a bit of oomph! This became apparent when The group¨FREE¨ with Paul Rodgers as lead singer would bring out great rock music , but with loving words.. Áll Right Now¨ l notice is still played at weddings and such like occassions where everyone and his grannie can get up and dance.

It slowly made sense to me that while l was a child in the 50s, many of the modern songs were about someone who´d just died.! Ugh! l can still see in my mind an old black and white image of a blonde girl dressed in black leather singing for ´Terry´ to please wait at the gates of Heaven for her, since he had crashed his motorbike and not recovered.. Nice tune, but the words? Yuk. Similar with ¨Tell Laura l love her¨ the dying words of a racing car driver , having crashed his car. Please pass the sick bag.!!!

Now what a contrast to see Axle Rose bounding across the stage in his kilt/skirt, long hair and a beard belting out the beautiful words of ¨Sweet child of Mine¨.....Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place , where as a child l´d hide.,¨l´d hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain.¨¨...Wonderful.!

Bon Jovi have got the rocked-up love song nailed right down, l think.

It´s not possible to sit still at one of their concerts, l discovered when l took my sister in law (not a Bon Jovi fan) to one of their large football arena concerts. Up she got as soon as she heard Bad Medicine thumping out.(your love is like bad medicine. bad medicine is what l need)

She was mesmerised when Jon sang Älways¨ ...... l will love you always, if the stars don´t shine, ..........still love you always.¨¨, but l think she was completely converted to being a Bon Jovi fan when ¨Thank you for loving me ¨¨ came thundering across the field.

...¨Thank you .......for being my eyes when l couldn´t see, for parting my lips when l couldn´t breathe...... Thank you for loving me.¨¨

So romantic songs don´t have to be the slow-crooning type suitable for dancing close together (yes that can be a rather wonderful situation to be in also), but romantic doesn´t HAVE to be sloppy and slow, Heavy rock songs have beautiful words too. You sometimes just have to look out for them. !!!

Picture below, is Paul Rodgers , singing with Queen.