9 Songs That Define My Life

I was tagged into this challenge by the excellent Bonnie Barton (well worth a follow if you’re not already doing so — her MixTapes collections always take you to musical destinations you’ve never visited before).

This isn’t usually my style of writing, and I initially thought it would take me several days to get my head around the concept. However I’ve decided to do the exact opposite and jump right in without over-thinking it…so here goes!

1 — “Me And Jane In A Plane” — Jack Hylton’s Orchestra

Some of my earliest musical memories are of my grandad singing “Me And Jane In A Plane” to my grandmother. When he did something that irritated her, he always sung this song to her and, no matter how annoyed my grandmother was, she’d calm down after a few lines.

While still pretending to be annoyed, you’d see her features soften and she’d playfully punch his shoulder or something to signify the argument was over and all was forgiven.

Me and Jane in a plane
Soaring up to the clouds
Me and Jane in a plane
Far away from the crowds
In my two-seater, what could be sweeter
I’ll ask St Peter, to step inside and bless the bride

My grandad loved going to music halls, as they were called in his day, and enjoyed the big bands in particular. He had quite a silly sense of humour, so I heard this song a lot growing up, sometimes several times a day, as my grandad didn’t stop singing it until he’d been forgiven for whatever…