Richard Hearn gets a lesson in music appreciation
One of the most shocking moments in the history of this column was when I wrote about musical rivalry, and Paul Lewis, the excellent illustrator – his website is www.pointlessrhino.com by the way – depicted Youngest™ as Liam Gallagher. I’m loathe to pick over that particular scab, but I’m going to do it anyway.
You‘ve just gotta, er… roll with it.
I got bought Noel Gallagher’s solo album at Christmas and it’s been on the car CD a large proportion of the time since then. It has become The Boy’s favourite. His review would be; “Six is his favourite, seven is one Mummy doesn’t like, Daddy and Youngest™ both like number four.”
“Imagine if Gallagher was in the car in front”
Meanwhile, in the back, Youngest™ does what we call his Rock Star Face. He kind of closes his eyes, grimaces and headbangs. He looks the part as he’s got quite long hair. Ironically, considering the Gallagher’s sibling rivalry, this CD is one of the few things that The Boy and Youngest™ seem to be agreeing on at the moment.
The Boy pays much more attention to the lyrics than I do. As we walk up to school he suddenly says: “Gallagher says he’s going to take a tiger for a ride. That would be dangerous, wouldn’t it?” I agree, what else can you do?
And also: “Gallagher says that dreams taste like poison. How can that be? They don’t taste of anything. That’s what I’d say to him if I met him.”
I love the fact that he refers to Noel by his surname. This seems a risky manoeuvre. Even if you didn’t know about his reputation there’s something about calling someone by their surname which sounds like you’re trying to pick a fight.
“Imagine if Gallagher was in the car in front,” The Boy says the following Sunday.
“Imagine,” I say. It seems unlikely somehow, as we’re driving out of Wakehurst Place and somehow I don’t see visiting a National Trust as very ‘Gallagher’.
In some ways, the Gallagher CD – as I now call it – is the perfect coming-together of some current key quirks of parenthood: The fact that Youngest™’s loves music so much he won’t let us have any other type of radio on in the car, and also The Boy’s love of putting everything into a favourite order, whether Ben 10 villains or types of pasta.
(Noel) Gallagher has also become part of folklore, and joins an exclusive set of people The Boy has never met but feature highly. The others are Father Christmas, The Tooth Fairy and – as explained in a previous column – James May. I’d like to be there for that dinner party.
