All this talk of the eighties has reminded me of a couple of singles I absolutely loved as an infant. Granted they may not have been the most groundbreaking releases of the decade , but I distinctly remember spinning these beauties on my Sesame Street portable record player. The first was a song called Japanese Boy, by Aneka - an oriental beauty (or so I reckoned) who, in all my innocence, I believed to have lost her beloved baby son when she warbled 'he's my Japanese Boy, ooh-ooh I miss my Japanese Boy (etc)'. Little did I realise it was a sordid and spiteful tale of an eastern love-rat. My illusions were further shattered when it was revealed in Scottish tabloid the Daily Record that Aneka, this exotic, mysterious beauty, was in fact from a town 2 miles from my own, was more likely to be found gracing the folk clubs of Fife, and was in reality blessed with the rather less mystical title of Mary Sandeman. And then there was Bright Eyes. Forgive me, this one was actually late seventies, but let's not become entangled in pedantics. I remember it clearly. That Sunday afternoon I had enjoyed my first ever (and perhaps only) experience of personal fulfillment - I had, all on my own, removed the stabilisers from my bike and had sped down my street in a blaze of two-wheel glory. My mum and dad, who were still together then, had gone out and left me with the next door neighbour so I had no-one to share my pride with, aside from my friend Jennifer who was reluctant to celebrate due to the constraints of her tricycle. Anyway, Karen, who was looking after me, knew what to do. I had instructed her to call me in when the charts were on, regardless of what I was doing. I remember her lifting me onto the kitchen worktop while she turned up the top 10 countdown. 10 minutes later, my mum and dad returned. I was sat in Karen's kitchen sobbing quietly, and they assumed I'd been a little over zealous on my stabiliser-free bike. Karen, however, was sniggering into her cola, and explained that I had actually broken down because Art Garfunkel's Bright Eyes was number one in the charts and I couldn't contain my joy because I loved it so much. I was four. How sad is that? Sorry for rambling - that was way too long. I promise to shut up if everybody promises to be happy again. Love Nicola xxx -- Nicola M Stip / Blue Music www.stip.demon.co.uk ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . We're all happy bunnies humming happy bunny tunes. Aren't we? -----------------------------------------------------------------------