Wild and exciting

You want wild? You want exciting? What a week I’ve had! Other than the usual working, I liberated a ladybird, went for a walk, went for another walk and noticed Jonathan-from-over-the-road’s dog urinating on a fresh pile of sand which was about to be laid out for a new driveway (dramatic), waved to Dick from the other side of the graveyard (I should perhaps point out that Dick isn’t dead), and replaced the leaky sump on my wormery (a brand new experience). It really doesn’t get much crazier than that, but could I cope if it did?  I doubt it. 

Of course I’m grateful there have been no big dramas. I long for the peaks in life, but an absence of troughs is something to be glad about, at least. And Spring has made a tentative appearance here at last. Oh, I forgot to mention the bumblebee! I saw a bumblebee too. 

Reflecting on such an eventful time reminded me of a very obscure song from the archives. I had the chorus running through my mind and it’s such an unusual number I reckon it deserves a place here. Earth and Fire (no Wind) were a Dutch group, formed in the late 1960s and starting out as, what I suppose you might call, a progressive rock band, but with a bit of a difference in that they had a strong female vocalist, Jerney Kaagman. They were hugely popular in their native land but, to my ears, don't seem obviously commercial (until they later developed into more of a pop/disco outfit, continuing as a band for many years).

 Anyway, ‘Wild and Exciting’ from 1970 is interesting, charming, very European. Jerney’s vocals are distinctly ‘Teutonic’ sounding and really remind me of Siouxsie (did Siouxsie ever listen to them, I wonder?) The changes in tempo, the mix of acoustic guitar with the heavier chords and then some delightfully noisy freakout psychedelic madness that first comes in at around 1m30s …. who’d have thought this could be a Top Ten hit for them?  But it was in the Netherlands, as were most of their early single releases.  Plus I love this video, with Jerney’s big, frizzed hair, so very of the time (I couldn’t help contemplating how hard it must have been to maintain), a special little moment at the 1 minute mark and the unlikely setting of a football ground (why?!) 

Earth and Fire: Wild and Exciting (1970)

One more wild and exciting thing – I realised earlier that this blog is 10 years old today. Argh, I can hardly believe it, how is that even possible? I don’t feel it deserves much celebration given how absolutely terrible I’ve been at its upkeep lately but I’m thankful at least that one decade later we’re both still here... and, of course, if you're reading this,  thank you for being here too.