What songs best epitomise your travels.? There must be a tune that stays in your mind, or reminds you of a great time you had whilst on the road? Please tell all........
[There are 22 posts - the latest was added on Mon 24 May, 7:22]
Use the form at the end of this page to add your own post.
Topics
| Thorn Tree
| Home
i don't know if this is what you are looking for, but there is one song, by finlay quaye (?) that always reminds me of maputo - that rainbow song, i don't know what the exact title was.
also, when i was is vilankulos, practically the only way you could relate to the locals was by playing or singing bob marley, particularly 'redemption song'.
Cat Stevens " Kathmandu I be missing you, with your strange
mysterious ways" Never a truer word spoken.
'2000 miles' (or is it 3000, 4000) anyway, I find it quite
poingnant when I am away from home. And 'Waltzing
Matilda'..."once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong...."
We traveled both islands in New Zealand in a rented
Campervan.(1992) We had a tape dubbed "Canadian Tunes to
Travel By" Among these great tunes was "Life is Highway"
by Tom Cochrane. Whenever I hear it, I'm taken back to
this beautiful country side, driving this "whale of a"
Campervan on the side of the road not familiar to me,and
belting out this tune at the top of our lungs! Great
Memories!
I bought a cassette tape in Lome, Togo years ago by humming
a song to a street vendor that had been blasted in my ears
during a five-hour taxi ride through Benin. I didn't speak
much french at the time, so I was amused later to learn that
"Attention Na Sida" means "Beware of Aids". I still love to
listen to that song. It's a wonderful example of the music
of West Africa, and Franco has a beautiful booming voice and
an important message. I ordered it on CD from a small US
music shop after my cassette wore out. Look for it!
Try listening to "Serengeti" by Spyrogyra....
U2's Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For will always remind me of rolling along through the Serengeti, even though the words don't fit. Likewise Elton John's Little Genie while on a riding-on-air van trip from the French to Dutch side of St. Martin. I didn't like the song before that moment.
Not only that, but there were songs that inspired travels. It was a song about Jamaica by Loggins and Messina that inspired a 5 week island hopping trip thru the Caribbean, and one by Tom Cochran - I Need Rain or something? - that got me going to Tanzania. (That was when I first learned how Tanzania was pronounced!)
Hmm...I don't know why but I always associate Africa with
"Dancing Queen" by Abba and "California" by Luna.
.....that's where my ABBA tape got to. I have 2 ABBA tapes
floating around Africa somewhere. One was left on a felluca
and the other was left it in a vehicle in Douala, and I
never saw either again..hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I had the Queen LP sent to me form home while i was
travelling in Nepal. The track 'Made in Heaven' says it
all about that beautiful county...
We recently managed a week in West Africa. It was arranged
six hours before the flifgt and we had to do it in secret.
We only had one tape for the long drive to the airport;
Exile on cold harbour lane by Alabama 3.
Top track - Ain't goin' to Goa
UB 40 in Indo
Yothu Yindi's Tribal Voice and the red red deserts of Oz
AND Diesel & Dust - Midnight Oil of course
The song that the kids from Mugurameno village taught us:
How are you my partner
How are you today
We shall dance in a circle
I will show you the way
Sing Na Na Na Na Na Na (in harmonies of course)
Na Na Na Na Ney
We shall dance in a circle
I will show you the way
...by Toni Childs. It was a song I loved long before I got
to Zim but to listen to it there was a real treat (I
cried...soft, I know). Context so often determines the
connection (rather than the song's actual content). Like
ALL the stuff I listened to immediately after I returned
home to Oz has such a strong connection with the wonderful
feelings of just having experienced Africa. Deep Forest and
Baaba Maal have a special place right along side the
soundtrack from "The Air Up There" (corny basketball movie
about a really tall Maasai making it to America to play,
Kevin Bacon was in it too).
......any day now.
by Bob Dylan off the Desire album. When I hear it I'm
sixteen again.
"Stuck in the Middle with You". Some might think about
Tarrantino┤s Reservoir Dogs but I have a special memory that
always comes to mind...Me and my friend desperately looking
for some kind of petrol/gas station in the middle of Namib
desert. We feared we would get stucked and then this song
was played on the radio...we laughed like mad for several
minutes and felt much better!
(An hour later we did find some petrol/gas, in case you
wondered)
The entire Jimmy Cliff "Harder they Come" album, it helped
me survive a particularly hellish month in Kenya... The
Africa song from the Power of One... that makes me remember
the 6 other amazing months... that song can bring back the
smells, the sounds, the feelings.. I recommend it to anyone
missing Africa.
KOFFO OLOMIDE rocks, too!!! the beat of the world
And any Madness tune... I don't think there were more than
two nights in a row in my last month in Nairobi that didn't
have us danicing our brains out to them. TOO much fun...
I'm gonna have to go play them all and reminisce now!!
Nightlife in Accra by Reggie Osei captures my experience in
Ghana. Has anyone else heard it?
Nightlife in Accra by Reggie Osei captures my experience in
Ghana. Has anyone else heard it?