Posted by John Lambert on January 10, 2003 at 19:17:51 from 24.84.34.215 user John.
In Reply to: Re: RIO posted by Alan Hakim on January 10, 2003 at 08:29:45:
I don't recall learning the words of Rio and the other shanties AR mentions, but there they are, as Alan Hakim says, somewhere in the brain ready to appear when summoned. The same also applies to literally hundreds of other songs. I remember my grandmother and mother signing English music hall songs and my aunt singing me Scottish folk songs, but where all the other songs come from I have no idea - they are just there. I know songs from World War One, songs of the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's. My 20 year old son, on the other hand, knows nothing of these songs at all and has never shown the slightest interest in them. Is my generation the last to have received all the old favourites from their family? Maybe it's the fault of TV and radio. I remember asking my son one day why he didn't go outside and play instead of watching TV and playing computer games. "The real world is out there, waiting for you." His reply is memorable: "I've seen the real world and I don't like it." Maybe there's the germ of a novel here, Prue. I sometimes think young people today lead such a sad existence; so many of them have no knowledge of the past, no understanding of how things used to be, no knowledge of other ways of life, nothing to compare their own lives with. Maybe that's why I love the AR stories so much - he speaks my language, a language that reaches far into the memories of the past. I understand him and he understands me. Maybe that's why they aren't that popular with young people these days. Gloomy thoughts for the New Year, I know.