Years, Memory, Odd Turns in Life, and French Song
Posted: 2009-01-21 05:11pm
This is a rambling post about memories that surface in odd moments of boredom, and how things are recalled across the years.
In the early 1980's I went to France. There's a lot to that whole story there I'm not even going to touch on, like 5 years of French study, saving pennies to pay for it, and so on. It was a fun trip for the most part (particularly since I was one of the few who did NOT get airsick on the trip over and I did NOT suffer a hangover in Bourges). Our chaperones were French teachers who, being teachers, could not bear to stop teaching along the way. One of the things they did was play French songs on the tour bus as we went from place to place. For the life of me, I can't remember most of those songs. I forgot them about 5 minutes after I heard them.
Except for one.
A bouncy little pop tune called Allô Papa Tango Charlie (Yes I actually looked up how to do accent marks to write that)
Now, I'm not sure why it stuck with me. Sure, it was about the pilot of a small airplane flying off into the Bermuda Triangle and hey, we all know Broomstick loves airplanes, but learning to fly was 15 years in my future at that point and at that point I was utterly convinced that I would never have a chance to sit in a cockpit. The dream wasn't dead, merely beaten comatose at that point.
Anyhow, fast forward 25 years Yes, folks, twenty-five years, a quarter century. I am sitting around one day and that tune starts running through my head again. Of course, I don't remember all the words, and I sure as heck had no clue who recorded it or composed it. I'm not even sure I know the title, I just know the phrase "Allô Papa Tango Charlie" is a really common phrase in the lyrics.
Well, back in the early 80's no one had head of the internet (at least I hadn't) and there wouldn't have been much chance of recovering the name/music/recording/whatever of this song. I would have been stuck with imperfect memories. But I'm not in the 1980's, it's the '00's, and I do have the internet. I went up to a message board known for answering questions and asked if anyone could help me find this French song I barely remembered from over 2 decades ago. In fact, you can see the post here, which shows you just how little I was going on. I got my answer - in less than 20 minutes. How cool is that?
Of course, it's also on YouTube. We didn't have YouTube back in the 1980's, either. Hell, we didn't have that in the 1990's, either. You young'uns are spoiled these days....
Now, I can't be the only one who found this tune catchy - I mean, the kids in this video probably weren't even born yet when I first heard it. And the video is a little weird. I'm not referring to the hand gestures and the dancing around and using a small blue quilt to (I assume) represent the sea. No, I'm talking about the girls wearing bikinis over blue jeans. That's a little.... odd. I mean, not too odd for me but my Other Half's reaction to seeing it was "What the hell --?" and then of course I had to attempt a running translation 'cause French is not a language he understands. I'm not what the deal is with the fringed vests, either. They do look like they're having fun, though.
Here's the video.
In the early 1980's I went to France. There's a lot to that whole story there I'm not even going to touch on, like 5 years of French study, saving pennies to pay for it, and so on. It was a fun trip for the most part (particularly since I was one of the few who did NOT get airsick on the trip over and I did NOT suffer a hangover in Bourges). Our chaperones were French teachers who, being teachers, could not bear to stop teaching along the way. One of the things they did was play French songs on the tour bus as we went from place to place. For the life of me, I can't remember most of those songs. I forgot them about 5 minutes after I heard them.
Except for one.
A bouncy little pop tune called Allô Papa Tango Charlie (Yes I actually looked up how to do accent marks to write that)
Now, I'm not sure why it stuck with me. Sure, it was about the pilot of a small airplane flying off into the Bermuda Triangle and hey, we all know Broomstick loves airplanes, but learning to fly was 15 years in my future at that point and at that point I was utterly convinced that I would never have a chance to sit in a cockpit. The dream wasn't dead, merely beaten comatose at that point.
Anyhow, fast forward 25 years Yes, folks, twenty-five years, a quarter century. I am sitting around one day and that tune starts running through my head again. Of course, I don't remember all the words, and I sure as heck had no clue who recorded it or composed it. I'm not even sure I know the title, I just know the phrase "Allô Papa Tango Charlie" is a really common phrase in the lyrics.
Well, back in the early 80's no one had head of the internet (at least I hadn't) and there wouldn't have been much chance of recovering the name/music/recording/whatever of this song. I would have been stuck with imperfect memories. But I'm not in the 1980's, it's the '00's, and I do have the internet. I went up to a message board known for answering questions and asked if anyone could help me find this French song I barely remembered from over 2 decades ago. In fact, you can see the post here, which shows you just how little I was going on. I got my answer - in less than 20 minutes. How cool is that?
Of course, it's also on YouTube. We didn't have YouTube back in the 1980's, either. Hell, we didn't have that in the 1990's, either. You young'uns are spoiled these days....
Now, I can't be the only one who found this tune catchy - I mean, the kids in this video probably weren't even born yet when I first heard it. And the video is a little weird. I'm not referring to the hand gestures and the dancing around and using a small blue quilt to (I assume) represent the sea. No, I'm talking about the girls wearing bikinis over blue jeans. That's a little.... odd. I mean, not too odd for me but my Other Half's reaction to seeing it was "What the hell --?" and then of course I had to attempt a running translation 'cause French is not a language he understands. I'm not what the deal is with the fringed vests, either. They do look like they're having fun, though.
Here's the video.