I've Got The Music In Me

I got the music,I got the music in me.. I've got the music in me since I was a little kid. Our parents loved music.That love of music trickled down to us and to our own kids. In fact everyone was exposed to some kind of music in the early parts of their lives.Who can forget the lullabies our parents crooned to calm us down,to lull us to sleep. To a Muslim baby,his first exposure to a melody was when his father or grandfather whispered the iqamah (a shorter version of the azan) in his right and left ear. When we could talk,we learned the nursery rhymes and folk songs. When we grew older we develop our own taste of music. Our grandma,Tok Bibi taught us some old folk songs like Trek Tek Tek, Burung Kakak Tua,Anak Ikan Makan Ikan,Ikan Kikik ,Suriram. She could also sing the Malay hits of her time,songs by R.Azmi and P.Ramlee and songs from the bangsawan (Malay Theatre). But she really thrilled us with her rendition of English songs.Our favourites were It's A Long Way To Tipperarry and Oh My Darling Clementine. She was multilingual.She sang some songs in her Ceylonese language. She could sing some Japanese tunes too. My grandma was a diva of her era. Our parents' musical tastes was greatly influenced from their educational background and working environment.Both were English educated. So they prefered western music to Malay music and thus influenced us too. My dad loved dance music (samba,rumba,foxtrot and swing).He was quite a good musician.He played mandoline,banjo and ukelele. His fave singers were Bing Crosby,Eddie Fisher,Doris Day,Johnnie Ray and Dean Martin.My mum lerves Dean Martin. I remember when I was 10 or 11,my dad took me and my big bro Emran to see the movie Jailhouse Rock. That was my first introduction to the King of Rock N Roll,Elvis Presley.I was hooked on rock n roll. My big bro and my older cousins were already into this rock music stuff. My bro Maher and me were soon swept by this rock music. Maher became the Elvis of his school. During school holidays,we gathered in our garage with our neighbors and cousins.Dad bought us a guitar,with some tin cans and a broomstick double bass ,we became a band.We sang all the popular songs,songs by Elvis,Cliff Richard,Paul Anka,Neil Sedaka,Everly Bros.Yes,we thought we were great.Indeed,we were great. In the mid 60s,Beatlemania took over the music world.We were struck too. Our repertoire changed to Beatles,Rolling Stones,Herman's Hermits,Swinging Blue Jeans,The Animals,Dave Clark Five. At the same time,Malay music was changing ,they called it Pop Yeh Yeh. I never cared much about this Pop yeh yeh.It goes like..fast guitar rifts,three or four drum thuds,and then the singer drags his voice singing melancholy lyrics.That's what I think of pop yeh-yeh.Yucks. The music died the day my dad passed away.At least for me,for some time. We had to be serious about our future.We all got to work. When we moved to our new home,we were older,wiser and subdued. We still kept track of our musical interests.No more jamming like before. One by one,we settled down and raised our own families. Most of our kids still keep the music going.We elders try to keep up. My '35 year old' sister,recently asked me,'Do you know The Killers ?' Her son Aqil is compiling a video and has The Killers music as a background. '35 year old sister',I know who The Killers are now. You know you got to help me out Don't put me in the backburner Yes you got to help me out. I got sold but I'm not a soldier I got sold but I'm not a soldier I do keep in touch with the kids' music. I've got the music in me.