Inheritance Tracks

I heard an interesting idea the other day - Inheritance Tracks. Which are what, you ask? The idea is that they are music tracks which have been handed down to you by a previous generation or tracks that you would like to hand on to the next. I'm not sure what other criteria there are (this was a 30 second slot on the radio), so I'm going to say that the tracks should be precious to you in some way, and they should not be dead obvious (no "Angels" by Robbie Williams; unless, of course you are Robbie Williams or his Mum, in which case I can see that it would be very precious indeed). I don't think there's a set number (unlike "Desert Island Discs").

When I was growing up in the late 60s and early 70s (I know, you'd think I was much younger than that), we didn't really take much notice of what previous generations had been listening to - we  didn't even take much notice of songs that were six months old! Maybe all younger generations are like that, I don't know - I've only been young once! So, there isn't much that I inherited from an older generation. My Mum liked Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett and the Beatles. I thought they were all rubbish.

The inheritance tracks I'd like to pass on are all old now, and there aren't many of them - in truth, I no longer really listen to music. I feel I could or should include something from all the artists I have loved, but there are so many: Leon Russell, Carole King, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, Richard Thompson, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, Beethoven, Puccinni, Charlie Parker, Miles Davies, Chet Baker, Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, Paul Weller and I could go on; choosing is really hard!

These are the first three that come to mind:

This first one (chronologically at least) would be "Handbags and Gladrags" sung by Chris Farlowe (see the Wikipedia entry for more details about the song's history). Probably I prefer the Rod Stewart version, but Chris Farlowe was first. I remember buying it with a record token I was given for Christmas when I was 11, which was the year I got my first record player, it was my first year at grammar school, and the year I had my appendix out. At the age of 11, I didn't really like it, but I thought it would be cool to like that sort of thing (a bit like, a couple of years later you were supposed to like Monty Python, even though it wasn't funny). I grew to love it (the song, not Monty Python, I just learned to be honest about that), and that sort of rough, R&B, soulful sound has remained a favourite of mine, and always speaks to my heart.

The next one is Elgar's Cello Concerto, and there can only be one version, Jacqueline du Pré's. And it's in my list simply because it's the most beautiful thing I have ever heard; it gives me goose-bumps every time I hear it.

I always like songs of love and loss; so I had to include the dreamy, breathy, soaring "When I'm Old and Wise", sung by Colin Blunstone on the Alan Parsons Album "Eye in the Sky". Definitely non-obvious and precious to me - I hope one day to be old and wise and to look back wistfully on the loves and friendships I've had.

And I bet there are others, but I don't know which I would like to pass on that the next generation hasn't already found! Maybe I'll add more as I think of them