I almost died a few times. Don't we all. My mother almost died befioe I was born. Drowned . An older boy saw her adrift in the sea before she was five and plucked her from the waves and returned her to her parents on the shore. My sister as a baby fell into our garden swimming pool in Zimbabwe and her sister rescued her. I almost fell out of the open window on a train heading across Botswana. Casual incidents but they make you pause..
The Go Betweens 16 Lovers Lane reminds me of another one of the times I might have died. When I was at unuversity I was ill. Very ill. I had to intercalate for a couple of years and return to my parental home and be diagnosed and treated back to some kind of health so I could return to university and complete my degree. All the while. My older sister was dying and died in the same house.
There were four of us there with her. My younger sister who had been plucked from the pool by Sarah in Zimbabwe.. My mother who cared for Sarah when she returned from the hospice. My father. And me. But it made a mark on us all. And the five if us still bear the scars. Though you may not know it to meet us. We never recognise each others scars. .
I bought this album, the last of The Go Betweems albums during their initial run at round about that time. I'm playing it now as my supper warms.. It's essentially an album about Love in its many incarnations. An incredibly beautuful and refined one. As the man says, 'Love goes on....'
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