Aural gratification

Have you ever heard something that has transfixed you to the spot, washed over you like a heatwave, stopping all thought, leaving you absolutely fascinated & craving more?

...the first time I heard The Blue Nile's album Walk Across The Rooftops I had to play it again & again & again & again as I couldn't really take in what I'd just experienced...it was a huge soundscape & it took me a long while to concentrate on Paul Buchanan's wistful voice & even longer to take in the words he was singing. But when I did, this song gripped me by the entrails & twisted 'em for the following reason. I had been seeing a Young American at uni...our time was up, he went back to the States & I was left behind...again. I hated being in the city because he wasn't there with me. I hated being anywhere we'd been together, even the beach. We would phone each other once a week, I would be wet at the sound of his voice, but I couldn't, or wouldn't, sustain the intimacy we had, so the talking became as the song says 'bravado' on my part to disguise my longing. I was blase when he said he was thinking about coming back to the UK to work in the city, because I knew he wanted to go to med school & become a doctor. I was burnt out & couldn't afford myself the hope that he might give that up to come back. He took it as rejection, so the phone calls stopped, a few letters later, those too stopped...& I never heard his husky southern drawl again...& then there was this song...

Tinseltown In The Rain

Why did we ever come so far ?
I knew I'd seen it all before
Tall buildings reach up in vain
Tinseltown is in the rain
I know now love was so exciting

Tinseltown in the rain
All men and women
Here we are, caught up in this big rhythm

One day this love will all blow over
Time for leaving the parade
Is there a place in this city
A place to always feel this way
And hey, there's a red car in the fountain

Tinseltown in the rain
All men and women
Here we are, caught up in this big rhythm

Do I love you ? Yes I love you
Will we always be happy go lucky ?
Do I love you ? Yes I love you
But it's easy come, and it's easy go
All this talking, talking is only bravado