I have many memorable music which reminds me of different times of my experience.
Today, I want to talk about memorable music for me when I was around 26 years old in 1989.
When I was 26, I flew to Sydney in Australia and was staying in an Aussie family's house for about 1 month and a half.
It was my first time to live in another country ( outside of Japan ) and it was one of the most unforgettable memories in my life.
Since my childhood, living in other countries was my dream and Australia was one of the countries I was interested in.
I was hearing about an Aussie family I was going to stay with, they were a 62 years old marriage couple , and when I went there, I noticed they are a big family.
Their kids appeared one after another , total of 6 kids who were from 18 to 26 at that time.
Plus 19 years old daughter has her kid who was 3 years old girl.
and 21 years old daughter was living there with her husband ( 21 ) with their baby boy.
My English level at that time was the lowest in the English Language school over there and my main words were " Yes" " NO", " Thank you ", or spoke extremely slow and my listening level was also, took a time to understand every conversation.
The host mother called Connie, was very kind and caring and she was very patient to listen to my English.
She took me to many places everyday, tried not to make me feel bored while staying there.
I had many opportunities to meet many people.
During the day, I went to English language school.
There were also some school excursions after school, and also it was a Christmas season, so Christmas parties were held everywhere.
At that time the most memorable music for me was a song by Martika " I feel earth move ".
It was 1989's big hit song.
Martika -" I feel earth move "
I haven't listened to this music for a long time, but I was keeping the tape of it which I purchased at that time in Australia.
I really loved this song as well as Wham's last Christmas while dancing with everyone in the Christmas party.
Another memorable song is The Tennessee Waltz by Patti Page
The Tennessee Waltz - Singer Patti Page 1950
This song was a 1950's big hit song, and I was not born when this song was released.
I knew this song in our host family's relatives Christmas party.
In the party, there were many people who were variety of ages from teens to around 70S.
and when the song The Tennessee Waltz started playing, many elderly couples were dancing together including my host mother and host father.
This melody of the music is very touching , and I had no idea what the lyrics were until recently.
While I was seeing those elderly couples dancing, I felt how romantic they are.
It became one of my dreams to have a partner who I can be in love and can dance with the partner.
Because I had never seen elderly couples show their love in this way in Japan. Maybe because of cultural habit, most of elderly couples don't do it.
These elderly marriage couples have many experience during the marriage, ups and downs, and still in love each other like love birds.
I felt really admire to be like that.
However, never imagined that the lyrics of the song is so sad.
At that time I just felt it's so romantic.
But the lyrics talk about " my little darlin was stolen by my friend while dancing. "
The Tennessee Waltz Lyrics
" I was dancin' with my darlin'
To the Tennessee Waltz
When an old friend I happened to see
I introduced her to my loved one
And while they were dancin'
My friend stole my sweetheart from me
I remember the night
And the Tennessee Waltz
Now I know just how much I have lost
Yes, I lost my little darlin'
The night they were playing
The beautiful Tennessee Waltz
I was dancin' with my darlin'
To the Tennessee Waltz
When an old friend I happened to see
I introduced her to my loved one
And while they were dancin'
My friend stole my sweetheart from me
I remember the night
And the Tennessee Waltz
Now I know just how much I have lost
Yes, I lost my little darlin'
The night they were playing
The beautiful Tennessee Waltz "
To the Tennessee Waltz
When an old friend I happened to see
I introduced her to my loved one
And while they were dancin'
My friend stole my sweetheart from me
I remember the night
And the Tennessee Waltz
Now I know just how much I have lost
Yes, I lost my little darlin'
The night they were playing
The beautiful Tennessee Waltz
I was dancin' with my darlin'
To the Tennessee Waltz
When an old friend I happened to see
I introduced her to my loved one
And while they were dancin'
My friend stole my sweetheart from me
I remember the night
And the Tennessee Waltz
Now I know just how much I have lost
Yes, I lost my little darlin'
The night they were playing
The beautiful Tennessee Waltz "
Even though the lyrics is about sad story, in my memory, whenever I listen to this song, it always reminds me of the scene lovely elderly couples were dancing which I admire to be like that kind of strong relationship forever.
Very sweet memory.