Sayonara Nana

I was disheartened to read that Nana Mouskouri is retiring from touring. When I was a kid, one of my favourite things to do was to play LPs at my aunt's house. Selections were limited and I was a slave to the albums I liked, so that usually meant one of four choices: The Best of ABBA; Michael Jackson's Thriller; the St. Elmo's Fire Soundtrack or Mouskouri's Roses and Sunshine. Childhood memories are a funny thing. I had to look up Roses and Sunshine because the title was gone from my head and I really only ever put it on for the song Nickels and Dimes anyway. I remember adoring that song twenty five years ago, but listening to a clip of it today stirs no emotion. It doesn't sound familiar at all and is far removed from the music I listen to now. Yet, I do still have a nostalgic fondness for Mouskouri, the lady with the black glasses, whose life I know nothing about. I wonder why some favourites stick with you and others fade away. The Winner Takes It All brings to mind vivid recollections of being in the living room where the turntable resided, singing/humming my foolhead off (internally). Ditto for Man in Motion, St. Elmo's Instrumental Love Theme and Georgetown. Oh, and Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'....but Nickels and Dimes is without rhythm now; just a tuneless phrase that runs through my head on occasion. Funny.