I’ll Have Some Marmalade With That Song

We all know how a song can take us back to a place where the memories are poignant, even if it’s 55 years ago. But no matter. Our accomplished Contributing Editor, Dave Slavin, has a message (or maybe it's a song) for all of us: There's nothing wrong with spending time reflecting; in fact, it's probably a great idea.

Today I went out for a drive. No radio or music. Just me and my thoughts. That alone can be scary! I was thinking about my favorite song of all-time, "Reflections of My Life" by a Scottish band called Marmalade. “Reflections of My Life” was released early in 1970, about a half year after losing my father in a family car accident. The song was always sad and melancholy to me and made me think of my father. Every time the song comes on the radio my heart skips a beat. I never really thought about the lyrics except how they made me feel sad and yet happy. Here is the song, give it a listen and see how it makes you feel!

Recently, I Googled the song lyrics and their meaning (isn’t it interesting how a noun, “Google,” can become a verb? Different story for another day!). “The changing of sunlight to moonlight, Reflections of my life.” As the song says, it always took me “back to my old home.” I discovered that the song was an anti-war song. I guess at the age of 16 I was too young by a couple of years to realize that. Looking back, in the context of the Vietnam War, how petrified some young men, older than me, and who were draft-eligible, must have been. In that context, WOW, this is really a sad song!

The singer, Dean Ford's name was unknown to me until a few years ago when someone on Facebook had posted a video shortly after Dean’s passing in 2018. Here is the later version recorded about ten years ago, Reflections Of My Life - Dean Ford - Dec 2018:

One of the most fun things for me (a hobby, in fact) is to chase around and find out who sung what song, who played on a record, produced it, etc. Recently, I read that Dean Ford sang “You can’t take it with you” for the Alan Parson Project, “Pyramid” album. Further research revealed to me that Alan Parsons had produced a solo album of Dean’s in 1975! Just when I think the song will “take me back to my old home,” there is another curve in the road, so to speak, and I was happy I found it!

I am amazed at how much more there is to find out about musicians who mean a lot to us, the words they wrote, and what they were feeling at the time. At this stage of our lives, we really do remember song lyrics easier than the person’s name we just met! So, the next time I drive, I will be sure to listen to Marmalade and Dean Ford and just let him “take me back to my old home!”

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