´óÏó´«Ã½

I blogged the other day about how your personal stories often give songs a greater emotional resonance than would otherwise be the case if I was just playing them 'dry'.

A great example of this is the e-mail that arrived tonight from Alwyn Ferguson. In it she paints a really vivid picture of life as a young student and how a song affected her back then.

"I can remember my first flat after finally leaving home - it looked out over the River Forth, it was winter and the place was draughty and freezing.

"I was standing in the bay window looking out at the lights of Fife in the distance, wearing fingerless gloves and a huge woolly jumper, and there was a one-bar electric fire trying unsuccessfully to heat the room. I was nursing a broken heart after having been dumped by the then love of my life, and I was listening to Simon and Garfunkel singing 'I am a Rock'.

"That was the first time I really appreciated that the rest of my life was up to me and I was an adult!!! The song seemed so significant at the time. Every time I hear it, I am taken back to that era of my life, such is the power of music. Go on, make me cry!!! Play it tonight!!!"

How could I resist? Every time Alwyn hears that song she thinks of fingerless gloves and freezing cold student flats. After tonight, so will I....