Danny Boy 16 1 4 (18) 25 1 23

Being born into a musical family was a wonderful thing to have to happen to one's self and to be blessed with functioning ears to hear music plus a half decent voice set the scene for some of life's greatest experiences...

Last time I sang Karaoke for example however was not the most memorable of those experiences if nevertheless memorable for me personally... At the time my wife and I used to frequent the holiday destination of Cyprus for the children's Ski-ing holiday the 3rd week in February which meant she had a week free from teaching and I got to choose my winter holiday anyway so long as it didn't conflict with my own work load. It was the second week of February we were a second time in Limassol visiting the Castle Apartments not as guests the second time but staying in the same locality so after dining at one of the restaurants nearby we were drawn back there because they put Karaoke on every evening for the entertainment of their guests a good proportion of whom were British and well versed in the art of singing Karaoke. Well on our first visit early in the week my wife got talking to this fellow Scan a middle aged guy a little the worse for wear in terms of how much he had been drinking but whilst he regaled my wife with first one tale after another I perused the catalogue of songs they had in their Karaoke albums when I came across Danny Boy. 

Danny Boy became known for a time in our family as my song because whenever we had a family gathering at a certain point in the proceedings my mother would kick off the singing with her wealth of songs, including Alice Blue Gown which was quite often my request of her, and after she sang the rest of the gathering was expected to contribute a song of their choice, and if they were unable to sing they were expected to recite a piece of poetry or some such in a ritual I gave the title: One Singer One Song!

Shortly before the time of my karaoke we had attended the wedding of our son to his Okinawan bride in Naha and at their hotel reception as a part of the entertainment they had a very famous flutist who had performed before the Emperor of Japan play Danny Boy, bringing tears to my eyes for more than one reason... Around that time I was also experimenting with the level of voice I gave the song because the son who had just married said I gave it too much force.

So to my rendition in Limassol… By the time I had plucked up enough courage to sing my song people were beginning to leave the venue which wasn't the most auspicious of signs as I stood on their small stage to be introduced by the resident MC a young Cypriot male who was himself a most accomplished Karaoke singer. Then as I began to sing in a lower than usual voice my wife’s Swedish friend decided he would accompany me on his mouth organ which added nothing to my level of confidence to say nothing of my voice… Especially when I also espied my wife rocking up and down in her seat and holding herself between her legs as if to avoid peeing herself… as even more people vacated the place?

Well when at last I reached the end of the second verse and returned to my seat the young MC came up to me from behind put his arms round my neck and whispered “I'll give you £50 if you agree never to sing another song..!”, with more hilarity on the part of my wife and her Swedish friend. Repair to the bar I went when a very pretty young waitress tried to reassure me “It wasn’t so bad!” as she served me the pint of beer my throat by this time was longing for when of course it was also beginning to dawn on me I was going to have to sing another song to redeem myself... So on our very last night we returned yet again and on that occasion to everyone’s surprise in my normal voice I sang another evergreen in Sinatra’s “My Way” without the demands Danny Boy made of one’s voice box.

So I didn’t have to take the £50 and surprised my pretty waitress to recover myself at least in her eyes… Have a good day everyone on this most auspicious of winter days: check out today's pics as I hope you are having a good winter too?

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