Hello! Welcome to another instalment in The Music To The Story Of My Life series! This week Tracey, who blogs over at PackThePJs is telling us all about the music that would feature in a film of her life, and the reasons why.
About PackThePJs
PackThePJs is a fun blog centred around the family holidays taken by mum Tracey, dad Huw, daughter Millie-Mae (12) and son Toby (10). They cover things that appeal to the ages of the children – so the young teen market rather than babies and younger children. With both children at school, they travel during school holidays. To keep the costs down, they tend to head to popular places off season, or head to ‘not yet discovered’ places, so the content is very varied. They also cover pet-friendly travel too, and the very niche ‘pet-and-child-friendly’ market! It’s difficult to keep children (teens in particular) engaged and amused, but PackThePJs aims to do this.
Neil Diamond – America
If you were to ask me what the earliest song is that I remember, it has to be this one. My mum adored Neil Diamond, and she often watched her favourite film The Jazz Singer, which this song comes from. It’s a great film – I, of course, watched it many times too! Writing about it now feels bitter sweet, as I lost my mum last year and I just shed a tear watching this clip.
Tracy Ullman – They Don’t Know
I was probably around 11 when this song was released. I wasn’t a fan, but my brother was. He played it ALL the time. He had just passed his driving test, and had bought his first car (a Ford Escort) and this song literally played on repeat. Having not heard it for over 30 years I still remember the lyrics word perfectly!
Chicago – Hard Habit to Break
While one brother played Tracy Ullman, my other brother was into Chicago. Hard Habit to Break was released around the same time, and he played the Chicago album on his record player. Because mum and dad quite liked it too – the songs were played downstairs on Sundays while the roast lunch was being prepped and cooked! Again, I know all the words!
Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas
This was the first record I ever owned! It was a couple of years after the previous two songs, and by now I was settled into secondary school and had lots of friends. This song reminds me of a Christmas disco I went to … we all took a record to play – I took this one. At the end of the party, I went home with 3 copies, strangely, as no one claimed the others! But why this record, and why this party? Well, I had my first slow dance at this disco – not to this song I should point out (!) – in fact I can’t remember the song. But his name was Luke!
Nik Kershaw – I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me
So, after the slow dance success of the Christmas disco, I started to develop my own taste in music – and with that comes the ‘teenage crushes’. Nik Kershaw was the first musical crush I had … it was a secret crush however – no posters on the bedroom wall. Instead, I had his album on tape, and I used to listen to it ALL THE TIME on my Sony Walkman with my headphones on (how retro that sounds now!)
A-Ha – Take On Me
OK, this is when the posters started to cover my bedroom walls! I was totally and utterly in love with A-Ha … all my friends fancied Morten, so I felt I needed to be different, so the object of my desire was Mags on keyboards! Oh how I loved him … he’s still pretty hot now (and hasn’t Morten aged well)!
Elvis Costello – She
When I told our wedding DJ that I wanted our first dance to be to Elvis Costello’s ‘She’, it took him forever to source a copy. A favourite film of mine is Notting Hill, and this song plays at the very end, when Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts are sitting on a park bench, him reading a book, her resting her head on his leg, being very pregnant. I loved the film, and I love the song – and when I hear it, it takes me back to my wedding day in 2001 in the Lake District.
The Automatic – Monster
Moving closer to the current day, this song is our daughter Millie’s anthem … when she was a baby we used to travel a lot between our home in Wales and my parents in Hertfordshire. This song was new and it was played a lot on the radio … the line “What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a Monster? Is it a Monster?” changed over time to “What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a Monster? It’s Millie Monster!” She LOVED it and used to laugh and wave her arms around whenever we played it and sang it – loudly – as we drove along the M4. She’s 12 now, and it still suits her!
The Proclaimers – 500 Miles
When our son was a toddler, we started to travel further afield. We decided to tour Scotland, and – knowing we had a long drive ahead of us – I put a playlist together, which included 500 Miles. The children loved it; and found it SO FUNNY when mum and dad sang it out loud with a faux Scottish accent (can you sing it without adding the accent?!) Anyway, it’s my son’s favourite song – he loves it. It makes it onto every road-trip playlist … when we drove to Poland, Latvia, Spain, Switzerland, The Proclaimers eased the journey!
Be sure to check out Tracey’s links below:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/PackThePJs
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/packthepjs
Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/packthepjs
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/chanel/UCWIE83id1ZQpGE_K-0p0Peg
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/packthepjs
If you would like to take part in this series, please do email me at jaki@jakijellz.com or tweet me @jakijellz and I’ll send you over all of the information. In the meantime, make sure you pop back next week for the next instalment, from a fellow blogger. I can’t wait!
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