I'm sure you've all heard by now that Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees passed away recently after a battle with cancer. All very tragic indeed, but I'm not going to talk about how this is such a loss to the world of music- we all know it is, the fact is obvious and does not need to be re-stated. Instead, I'm taking this opportunity to go all sentimental about the memories that the group's songs hold for me..
My grandparents have always loved the Bee Gees. Ever since I was about six years old, I can remember strains of 'Massachusetts' filtering through the house, those high-pitched vocals slightly sharp on a young ear, but never to be forgotten. I didn't understand the song, but eventually I started singing along anyway. I think I provided some fun family entertainment with my performances of 'Got To Get A Message To You'.
Fast forward a good few years, I'm a teenager, and the Bee Gees audio tape has been replaced by a DVD. They're still a firm favourite in my grandparents' house, so I hear them every weekend. I'm in that rebellious stage of adolescence during which I have to pretend that the commercial rubbish on the radio is better than anything my 60-something grandparents have on offer, but in truth I know that it's not. 'Immortality' is the song that sticks out now - although it will still be several years before I embrace it and truly understand it. And now - eight years later- this is the song that holds so many damn memories. It's an embodiment of everything that was good about that year. It's low-budget horror movies on a Friday night, it's chocolate, followed by chocolate cake, followed by chocolate mousse, it's pancakes from the flea market on a Saturday morning, it's that quick trip to the shops on a Saturday afternoon, it's endless cups of tea, it's the walk to feed the stray cats. It's everything that goes on still, even though I am no longer a part of it. It's Immortality.
I guess what I'm saying is embrace every moment, embrace every song. For all too soon you'll find yourself bopping on the dancefloor to 'Party Rockers', after a vodka-fueled binge, and you'll be happy, because life will be great - so much greater than it was when you were a teenager. And although you'll know it's over and that it can never happen again, there will be times when all you'll wish is that you were back in your grandparents' living room, stroking the cat you'd had since you were four, and listening to the Bee Gees.
