Welcome to The Songbook...

"Most likely to..." circa 2007

"Most likely to become a famous band photographer, manager AND music critic. She knows the roots of music better than you know your own family."

This was the future predicted for me by my best friend when venturing into the sixth form, aged just sixteen. So in the present day, eight years later, how accurate was she? Photographer, yes. Manager, no. And as for the latter - well, "critic" may be a tad strong, but as a self-confessed music snob, I can't say she was entirely wrong. 

We all have a little critic living inside us, and when it comes to music, one's preference can be made of up of a cocktail of factors; experience, heritage, and most importantly, gut feeling. Whatever sways your opinions towards a particular song, one thing is for sure: when it's good, you feel it. You feel it in your ears, in your heart and right down to your clenched fists and your toes wiggling in your shoes. 

Bob Marley said the one good thing about music is that when it hits you, you feel no pain, but I'm afraid Bob, I have to disagree. Physical pain, maybe not, but if you've ever listened to a track that's made your chest tighten or tears well up in your eyes, I hope you share my feeling that music can definitely cause some serious discomfort, even out of joy.

A song's like a smell. Good or bad, it can transport you across countries and time periods, even taking you back to a former version of yourself. As a singer, it's the lyrics that pack the most punch for me. I can hear a tune and suddenly, it's like someone's opened up my inner-most thoughts and put them to music, whether it's the first time hearing it or, as the Four Tops put it, whether I've heard that same old song a million times before. I often feel that no matter what I say or write, it's probably been sung before, and sung better. 

That doesn't mean to say that you have to be able to relate entirely to the lyrics; I haven't stayed at the Hotel California, been to the House of the Rising Sun, or fought in the Battle of Evermore, but I know what it feels like to do all those things, in my way.

So where did it all start for me personally? I guess really I'm the old soul here, a girl who grew up believing she was born in the wrong decade. I'm still not entirely sure which one would've suited me the most, but aside from the Spice Girls and a bit of Brit Pop, I think I'd trade in the 90s music scene for just about anything else. 

It's not surprising that I should have such a fascination with the past. My grandfathers spent their careers working for H. R. Owen and Brooks Brothers, so be it cars or clothing, it's the classics that do it for me. 

But back to the music. My family provided me with the best kind of grounding; Crooners and Broadway from my grandparents, the Stones, the Kinks and Clapton from my dad, and the Beatles and Bowie from my mum. From this platform I could then spring into further realms, like actual albums rather than Best Ofs, documentaries, exhibitions, books and films. 

For the most part, the relationships I have made in my life have been based on a musical bond. The afore mentioned best friend and I, for example, started our friendship one Saturday afternoon when, coursework abandoned, we spent hours listening to Mick and Marc. When not in deep discussion together we'd be spreading the word to others, encouraging group choruses of Get Off Of My Cloud, sitting in the loos working out the chords to Lola, or lending albums, almost by force, to our classmates. "Satisfaction?", they'd say, "Yeah, I'm a huge Britney fan."

I hope that this blog will act, not only as a tribute to some of these greats, but as a mild educational tool, pinpointing important dates, inspirational people, and some damn good tunes that you may or may not have previously heard (and I will, she says nervously, be attempting to showcase my own versions too). I may have decent knowledge of the music that I love but as with everything life, I'm always learning. So here's to sharing the old and, in the process, I'm sure unearthing some new too.