In Praise of Some of Life's Simple Pleasures
Sunshine, Tea and Skiving
The Back Green Serenade
A few minutes after nine this morning, it being a day off, I was in the back green, hanging some washing out. It was as idyllic a morning as it could be, at the back of an Edinburgh tenement on an already warm summer's day in July.
There was a minimal breeze, but it was obvious the sun would do most of the drying work today. There was also some bird song, which was probably the birds warning each other to look out for the big human lump in the back green.
This was a simple enough pleasure. A mood already embraced by daylight since I got up and opened the living room blinds, and energised when I sat down to a relaxed breakfast, was now enhanced by fresh air and direct sunshine.
Deep Sea Skiving
The icing on this chilled-out cake was the morning’s entertainment.
Deep Sea Skiving was the 1983 debut album from Bananarama. It was recorded between August 1981 and May 1982, and produced by Steve Jolly & Tony Swain before eventually being released in March 1983.
It would get to No.7 on the UK charts and No.63 on the Billboard chart in the US.
Their first single “Aie A Mwana” would only get to No.92 in the UK in 1981. But in 1982, two singles in collaboration with Fun Boy Three would be the big break they needed.
All the Fun of the Threes
“'It ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)" (a cover of an old 1930s jazz tune written by Cy Olilver & James Young) would be credited to Fun Boy Three with Bananarama, and get to No.4 in 1982 in the UK singles chart and feature on their album debut, Fun Boy Three.
“Really Saying Something” would be credited to Bananarama featuring Fun Boy Three. Making this cover of an old Motown single by The Velvelettes the ‘Nana’s second consecutive top ten UK singles appearance, getting to No.5 also in 1982.
It Ain’t What You Do, It’s the Way that You View It
I always enjoyed the ‘Nana’s back in the day. They were like a female equivalent to Madness in some ways. Their singles were always looked forward to, and I remember the band, like Madness, being regarded with the same affection normally reserved for national treasures almost from the start.
I was living a moment of nostalgia, reinforcing the awareness of the present, without any thought of the future beyond “I’ll have that second cup of tea when I go back in”.
Despite the signal dropping out occasionally, I was grateful for the wireless headphones my brother-in-law had given me last Christmas.
To carry the nostalgic good vibes into the sunshine, only enriched the simplicity of the chore and the pleasure of the music.
It was the first wee job of the day done, along with the first reward. I picked up the washing basket and the little basket with the clothes pegs in and went back inside.
Now, if I can think of something to write about, it’ll be…
Recommended Listening:
Deep Sea Skiving by Bananarama, London Records, 1983
Fun Boy Three by Fun Boy Three, Chrysalis Records, 1982