New Month Old Post: first posted 7th February, 2015. A rather contrived piece about how the Beatles ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ accompanied my DIY jobs through the years. This piece was published in The Guardian newspaper (second item on the page linked here).
Fixing a Hole by the Beatles
“I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in /
And stops my mind from wandering /
Where it will go”
1968: A-level examinations year. We moved house and I was allowed to decorate my new bedroom as I wanted, and listening to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on my reel-to-reel tape recorder I covered the flowery wallpaper a responsible dark blue and irresponsibly failed my A-levels. I’m not sure which my mum thought worse, the room colour or the exam results, but after I left for an office job in Leeds, the flowery wallpaper returned.
1970: “Painting the room in a colourful way.”
To the tape of Sgt. Pepper, I painted the walls of my rented room an adventurous orange and unadventurously stayed for seven years, ignoring my mum’s frequent hints about the dreadful colour.
1978: A mature student in Hull. With Sgt. Pepper loud in stereo through my Akai tape deck, Leak amplifier and massive Wharfedale speakers, I emulsioned the room an impulsive dark red and unimpulsively got a first, despite living with such a dismal colour my mum said.
1990: “Filling the cracks that ran through the door”
In a good career in Nottingham, I at last meet someone who appreciates my interior design skills. I moved in with my old stereo and tape of Sgt. Pepper and mended the doors and window frames. I like to think my mum would have been impressed too but sadly by then it was too late. We sold the house and moved back to Yorkshire.
1993: Sgt. Pepper is now on a cheap cassette player as we paper our bedroom ceiling using the two chairs relay method. Standing one behind the other, the person nearest the wall sticks one end of the pasted wallpaper to the ceiling and the person behind sticks the next bit. The first person then moves with chair behind the second, and sticks up some more, and so on, right across the room. We both end up slippery and sticky, with more paste on us than on the paper, which slowly detaches itself and drops down.
2015: “Taking my time for a number of things that weren’t important yesterday.”
I only hear music in the car these days. Sgt. Pepper comes on and reminds me that now the kids are grown up we need to re-paper the bedroom ceiling which has cracked under the weight of all their junk – and mine – up in the loft. I wonder if the tape deck, amplifier and speakers still work?
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| Akai 4000 DS Tape Deck, Leak 3200 Tuner Amplifier and Wharfedale Glendale Speakers |
Wharfedale speakers - we have two sets (do they come in sets?), one from my late parents and one set that Barry bought sometime when.
ReplyDeleteThey were considered among the best of their day.
DeleteI transitioned my music collection through various media too -- vinyl, cassettes, CDs. I never made the final transition to MP3 or digital or whatever it's called. That's one trick too far for this old dog.
ReplyDeleteWe still buy CDs, all online now, but are managing to avoid Amazon.
DeleteThis is at once clever, funny and affectionate. When the album first came out I listened to it at Roland Newsome's house over and over again till we knew all the words...
ReplyDeleteWe were talking about the space between us all
And the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth
Then it's far too late
When they pass away
The Guardian newspaper paid me for it.
DeleteGeorge Harrison deserves greater recognition as a song writer.
When Father papered the parlour
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't see him for paste
Dabbing it here! dabbing it there!
Paste and paper everywhere
Mother was stuck to the ceiling
The children stuck to the floor
I never knew a blooming family
So stuck up before.
that's what you reminded me of with your decorating tale......
DeleteI remember that only vaguely.
It's amazing how our music follows us, graduating to each music technology advance. I can't name all the formats I've used, but I do have vivid memories of copying my vinyl to eight track and to cassettes.
ReplyDeleteCassettes were convenient in cars, but have not stood the test of time.
DeleteWhat a wonderful remembering! But I must ask...all these years later, what color are your walls?
ReplyDeleteSort of cream, but I'm not sure because I can't tell. They could be green or pale pink for all I know.
DeleteThat got me thinking about music that follows me around. Unfortunately I never had the benefit of really cool sound equipment like that and most of the time it has to play inside my head. Wallpapering ceilings?! At least you didn't resort to artex.
ReplyDeleteSome friends thought I was crackers spending so much on just a "record player".
DeleteNo awful artex, but we have some woodchip to hide the faults in the walls.
I want to know the answer to Debby's question, too!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I don't think I have ever seen a ceiling covered in wallpaper... cracks or no cracks, a lick of paint should do the job (and can present its own challenges. Ask Michelangelo how his arms felt after having painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.)
See answer to Debby.
DeleteQuite a few here have lining paper on the ceilings which is then emulsioned. It hides the cracks.
I remember we bought a house that had orange paint on walls from top to bottom of it. Then there was that terrible 'Indian type' flock paper you could buy - yes I did. What terrible taste we all had.
ReplyDeleteOur house was covered in heavily patterned carpets and textured blown vinyl wallpaper which was a nightmare to remove.
DeleteYou've got me humming the tune now.
ReplyDeleteI can do all through the LP in the correct sequence. Fixing A Hole then She's Leaving Home.
DeleteI went through every type of playing music too but now I buy what I want from i tunes. It goes on to my i phone and from there I can listen to the music while in my car or at home on my bose set, or on my headphones, all with my phone. I don’t like new music but have more than enough old stuff to listen to. I bought an album by Shane MacGowan, The Snake a few weeks ago and am really enjoying it. Gigi
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate the advantages of online and streaming, but it's not for me. Although it isn't always possible, I prefer to listen to music without distractions while not doing anything else. I'm not a multi-Tasker.
DeleteWhat a lovely post, it reminds me of the various colours that we have lived with over the years. (Some still think that our colour choices are a bit beyond the pale. We've used a rich blue and decorated it with gold stars in every house that we've lived in.) A number of Beatles records are very significant for me and take me back to the exact time that I heard them. Very nostalgic!
ReplyDeleteBlue with gold stars sounds great.
DeleteThe post is rather contrived, but I can understand why The Guardian liked it.
That's a great idea to weave your personal room decorating into the Beatle's song! Here in Bavaria I think to add a little dash to the flat I rented to be near to the triplets.
ReplyDelete