From Europe with Love

I have just been given rather a few old vinyl records from a dear friend of mine who no longer needed, nor wanted them.  I knew that many of them were quite old, way before my time and that there was many I was not familiar with.  Of course, I could not say no and hurt my friend as she thought she was doing me a favour – and indeed, she was.  I have just acquired a very old vintage original HMV record player and much in need of vinyl’s to play – so I was happy to take them off her and give them a good home, regardless of the style of music.

I got home and had a look through them and as I suspected, many of them I did not know.  My friend is from Germany; she is an elderly lady whom I have a deep respect for.  She has lived through the war and always has many stories to share, I still cannot seem to call her by her first name, it is always “Mrs.… “   as you would do with say a schoolmistress.  Many are classics from the 50’s and 60's, some classical pieces and some are from Europe.  It was the songs from Europe that most interested me, as I myself am English and some of my favourite places in the world are in Europe, mainly France and Italy. 

There is a special ‘flavour’ about continental songs, just like the food and wines from that continent to which most Australians aspire for at least one holiday of a lifetime.  Like their surroundings, the songs of Europe are distinguished by something vaguely exotic.

In melodies and words they match up with the widespread idea of sophisticated French and Italian men and women – debonair and hotly romantic.  Whether the image is true or false, of course, doesn’t really matter when you’re listening to the popular music from these countries; for whatever reason, the love songs of France and Italy have a special place in our affections.

Volare, an early vintage, La Novia, Romantica, Al Di La and so on.

These songs have become just as much a part of our lives as the songs in our own language.  Why have they proved popular?  Perhaps because they all speak an international language, that of a good melody and the timeless poetry of love.

"Et maintenant……….Ecoutez bien……c’est magnifique……la musique d’Europe……..con amore!!"