In My Life, I Love You More

We said goodbye to my uncle on Friday. He passed on 31st July and following a private cremation in August, this was a gathering of family and friends to celebrate his life.

 

Much as he lived his life, the event was as full of joy and love as it's possible for these things to be. You realise that the one person you really want to be in the room with you isn't physically there, but the succession of remembrances, anecdotes and photos brought the memory of him into sharp focus.

 

We were both avid music lovers, though we rarely talked about it when we got together. As his neighbour - and inevitably, friend - of more than a quarter of a century wryly noted,

 

I loved Queen.

He loved jazz.

And never the twain shall meet.

I would have leaned more towards my uncle's side in that particular difference of opinion, but the trio of songs at the service - which I sure that he personally picked, he was meticulous in his planning and preparation - resonated for different reasons.

The introductory song was Dawn/Go Within by Santana, the opening of their 1977 album Moonflower. The sum total of Santana songs in my collection is three, two of which are different versions of the same song. I have never knowingly listened to an entire Santana album. As an intro to the service ahead though, my uncle nailed it.

 

On the album proper, Dawn/Go Within cuts to a live version of Let The Children Play, but here was comfortably faded out before the abrupt end. I will track down the album to hear it in full, as my uncle will have done on many occasions in the past.

The second song, and the one that resonated with me the most was The Highways Of My Life by The Isley Brothers.

The song features on the 1973 album 3 + 3, which also features Summer Breeze and That Lady. I have quite a few songs by The Isley Brothers, but culled from various compilations and best ofs. 3 + 3 is the only album that I own in its entirety and it is a masterpiece. I wish we'd talked more about music, and how our mutual love clearly overlapped in so many places.

The final song, and perhaps less of a surprise, was In My Life by The Beatles. My uncle was a huge fan and the first time I ever encountered the 'red' and 'blue' compilations was on a very rare occasion that I was allowed to rummage through his vinyl collection and put a record on...although I suspect he may have taken care of the latter, as I was an ignorant 7-year old at the time and I would have got my grubby fingers all over the vinyl!

In My Life featured on the first collection covering 1962-1966 (aka 'red'), originally appearing halfway through side 2 of Rubber Soul in 1965. I can't recall my response to the song (or 1962-1966 in general), the first time I heard it played on a turntable, but no surprise that I gained a deeper appreciation for The Beatles' music as I grew older.

One of my uncle's long-time friends spoke of their first meeting as neighbours, living in ground floor bedsits in Teddington, opposite Bushy Park, in the early 1970s. It was the first time that either had lived in London and it proved to be a life changing experience.

It was during that period that my brother and I, aged 11 and 7 respectively, went to stay with my uncle. We were bundled onto a coach in Bristol, met by my uncle at Victoria station and had our first big adventure in The Big Smoke. We went back into the city the following day, visiting the first McDonald's in the UK (Woolwich, to be precise). I don't remember the burger and fries, to be honest, but I vividly recall the milkshake, which was so thick that my cheeks ached from trying to consume it, in which I succeeded eventually.

We also visited a book shop and I came away with two books, both novelisations of sci-fi epics that I greatly enjoyed at the time: Star Wars by George Lucas (except that it was actually ghost written by Alan Dean Foster) and Battlestar Galactica by Glen A. Larson and Robert Thurston. Neither of the photos are mine: I think I may have the former somewhere, the latter has definitely perished along the way; both were read several times in the span of a few short years.

 

Another of the anecdotes by my uncle's friend concerned the number of cassettes he received with albums that my uncle had taped from his vinyl collection. It turns out that this was something of a cottage industry as others I spoke to had also been the recipients of bootleg cassettes over the years, with neatly handwritten sleeves. When the "home taping is killing music' campaign launched back then, my uncle was clearly one of the perpetrators!

 

My brother and I were also the beneficiaries of this criminal undertaking. We'd send my uncle a list of 'wants', he would borrow said albums from the library, and a package with C90 tapes would arrive in the post shortly after. 

 

Looking at my uncle's choice of opening song, I can see why he was approving of my brother's interest back then in the E.L.O. back catalogue. My opening request for Dirk Wears White Sox by Adam & The Ants and The Blue Meaning by Toyah came with an accompanying note, "Not sure about this!"

 

Here's to you Uncle Mike, with more love and affection that these modest words can ever hope to convey.