My First Love Song

I made doubly sure Mum was not around. With the bedroom door closed and the ceiling fan spinning at medium, I turned on the casette player. It was a simple rectangular box the size of a thick book with the speaker on one side, the casette slot on the other and all the buttons on the top. The telescopic antenna rested behind the buttons.

The song in the casette had been pre-recorded from the radio just yesterday. After a few days of sitting close beside the player, the DJ finally played the song I was waiting for – Anne Murray’s You Needed Me. There was no mistake when I quickly pressed the “Record” button right after the DJ finished speaking and just before the song began.

Now, with the song already recorded, a ball point pen in hand and a piece of foolscap paper backed by a text book, I listened intently as the song began to play. After the first line, I pressed the “Stop” button to write down the lyrics. That went on until I had the lyrics of the entire song on paper. I rewound the casette, played the song again and sang along.

That was the first love song I ever sang. The meaning was irrelevant. I just liked the tune. It was her voice rather than the message that tugged at my heartstrings. That was the time before I had a guitar but sang to my heart’s I did. I was about thirteen years old then. I was preparing to fall in love although I had no idea who she would be yet.

Author: Peter Tan

Peter Gabriel Tan. Penangite residing in the Klang Valley. Blissfully married to Wuan. A LaSallian through and through. Slave to three cats. Wheelchair user since 1984. End-stage renal disease since 2017. Principal Facilitator at Peter Tan Training specialising in Disability Equality Training. Former columnist of Breaking Barriers with The Borneo Post. This blog chronicles my life, thoughts and opinions. Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

8 thoughts on “My First Love Song”

  1. Hah, I used to do the same thing! Had boxes full of cassettes recorded and re-recorded from the radio, and then slowly listening to, and writing the lyrics in my lyrics book! 🙂 Nostalgic times.

  2. The walkman was a big thing to have at school. Cost about a few hundred ringgit. I wanted a record player but never gotten one. My dad got me a mini compo instead. It was nice.

  3. the neighbour in the house directly behind mine used to blast “beat it” every night at full volume when i was a kid … -__-” & the song just stuck in my head for a long time afterwards.

    1. But you have to admit, “Beat It” was a very catchy song. It grows on you. It is stillgood listening after so many years.

  4. I was listening to New Wave (Depeche Mode, Human League, etc). I turned up the volume when my folks were not around. My neighbor heard the noise.

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