10 Songs That Changed Me – Song 2

Song 2: Womble of the Universe by The Wombles

I have written about my discovery of this song here and mentioned it regularly on twitter as part of my fan worship of the amazing Mike Batt. Why did it affect me so much on a musical and personal level? Well, I had been a huge fan of The Wombles from the start, but this was definitely a game changer as far as I was concerned. It mesmerised me from the first few notes with its space vibe and it referenced, though I didn’t know it at the time, Space Oddity in places. The storyline was captivating as we followed Orinoco into space on his clockwork rocket ship and wondered, along with his family and friends, whether he would come down to Earth again. It tapped into my feeling of wanting to escape from everything I knew to have an adventure, although it reflected just wanting to escape from everything whether I had an adventure or not, when I listened to it when I was older. As with many of Mike Batt’s songs it has a wistful, almost melancholy edge to it. The whole album showcased a musical genius at work in its use of 11 different genres, but it was Womble of the Universe that was the track which led me to different songs as I developed a fascination with space and the universe around me.

The next song, chronologically in my discovery of music, was a small film called Star Wars! I saw it 6 times in the cinema and, although I enjoyed the main tune, it was the scene in the Cantina Bar which really hit the spot musically. Why that one? Well, I suppose that it was different, kind of quirky and great fun. At 12 you don’t necessarily look for the same songs as you do when you are an adult, but I still love this track. It reflects a bit of Mike Batt’s sense of fun and musicality, and the use of clarinet style instruments in the original film was great. The track that charted was by Meco and it was a combination of the main theme and the Cantina Band tune and it was a single that was hardly off of my record player in 1977/78! As you can probably hear, it is very much a 70s disco track, but it’s great for all that.

In 1980 my favourite TV series was Cosmos, the history of pretty much everything presented by the visionary Carl Sagan. The breadth and depth of the programme as it tackled philosophy, discovery and space exploration set it apart from anything else at the time, or indeed since. There were brilliant uses of music throughout, but the piece of music that left me awestruck was the track Alpha by Vangelis which sound tracked a journey through space. It is a synthesiser track that starts slowly and builds up momentum gradually throughout until, by the end, it is an exhilarating dizzying ride that just leaves you breathless – well me at least – and just staring at the TV in stunned admiration at the combination of special effects and that simply incredible music. Remember, this is in 1980, when UK TV sci-fi was innovative in terms of storylines, but had the budget of the average caravan holiday in Norfolk! Cosmos was in all ways on a different planet. When I saw the ‘Cosmos’ single of Heaven and Hell in the record shop I picked it up eagerly. I turned it over and saw Alpha on the B Side, although at the time I bought it, the title meant nothing to me. When I put it on the record player and realised which song it was I was overjoyed. It is a record that also put me in touch with the world of exciting synthesiser music, but that’s another story!

Time for a little bit of fun now, with a song that is one of the most educational songs ever recorded. In the excellent Meaning of Life from the Monty Python team, there were some really good songs, but one of them was an all time classic. Written and sung by the multi-talented Eric Idle, it is the tour de force that is The Galaxy Song. For my money, it is better than the more heralded Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, as he uses entirely accurate information about space and time to encourage a woman to donate her organs! It skips along with a sense of mischief, but never loses sight of scientific accuracy as it wears its knowledge so lightly. Eric Idle is on great form as he sings it with the air of a game show host and a travelling salesman combined. If you’ve never heard the song before, you are in for a rare treat I promise you.

The final track is from the artist that recorded Space Oddity, so in a sense it completes a nice circular journey as we move through space to the Red Planet. The song Life on Mars is definitely my favourite Bowie track with its mix of captivating piano playing by Rick Wakeman and the lyrics that are open to multiple interpretations. In December 2016 I went to the Kings Cross Theatre to see Lazarus, the Musical. The part of the girl in the production was played by Sophia Ann Caruso on Broadway and in London. However, on that night, her understudy, Hannah Rose Thompson played the part and delivered the performance of the night. She sang Life on Mars with a beauty and power that left me covered in goose bumps and with tears in my eyes. Ever since then I have been looking for a copy of her version of the song on Youtube or Spotify, but without any luck. If anyone can track it down I’d be incredibly grateful, and if by a very small chance Hannah reads this, thank you for my favourite musical memory from any stage production. Given the impossibility of tracking down that version, I shall stick with the gorgeous original that I discovered many years after it was first recorded.

I hope you enjoyed reading my space themed collection and I hope that you will join me for song three of my musical journey very soon.