WE HAD THE TECHNOLOGY

I hate to admit it but I’m old enough to remember these machines. Back in 1962 or hereabouts I had broken up with one of my very first – and I thought very gorgeous – girlfriends and wanted her back in the worst, demented, lovelorn kind of way. I hit on this cunning scheme to win her back with music. I wrote this ineptly poignant 12-bar and then lugged my Harmony Sovereign acoustic guitar down to this Voice-O-Graph booth on Victoria Station, dropped my coins right into the slot, and then droned and fumbled my way through the song. I was rewarded for my trouble with a scratchy low-fi acetate which I duly presented she who was the focus of my desire. And, damn me, but it worked. We got back together for a couple more months and then entropy ruled and we went our separate ways. By an odd twist of fate, we rediscovered each other a few years later, when I was a speedfreak rock singer/poet and she had become a nurse. It was huge initial fun, but then quickly degenerated into to disaster. But I guess that’s the rocky route of the confused heart.

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The secret word is Uniform

Charlie Gillett – RIP