My song today is ‘Josephine’. This song was recorded by the British singer-songwriter, Chris Rea. The song comes from his album called ‘Shamrock Diaries’ which reached the Top 10 in France and the Netherlands in 1985. It was written for his daughter of the same name. Chris rea would also later name a song after his youngest daughter, Julia on the album ‘Espresso Logic’ in 1993.
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After I first heard Chris Rea come over the radio airwaves whilst driving my car one Christmas time with his most famous hit ‘Driving Home for Christmas’, I was spurred on to look out for other songs of his. I have recently looked up and listened to all his musical works one afternoon and evening. Almost every song he writes and sings has a ‘rolling beat’ played to a catchy guitar background as though it was coming out of a trucker’s cab radio being driven down Route 66. It is as though the words of his songs take him on some journey down some highway.
He is an accomplished guitar player and because so many of his recorded songs contain so few words in them, I suspect that the musical beat is as important, if not more so than the vocal message. Invariably, many of his songs are composed of no more than a few lines of rhyming couplets which are repeated a number of times. It is as though he is saying to the listener, “Hey guys, listen to this guitar music; and I‘ve thrown in a few rhyming words just to be able to legitimately call it a song instead of a tune!”
My two favourite songs by Chris rea will forever be, ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ and ‘Road to Hell’.
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Of all the females I have known and have been acquainted with during my life, I cannot recall one Josephine having been among them. Josephine is the female form of the name Joseph and is an English version of the French name Joséphine. The name is of Hebrew origin ‘Yosef’ meaning ‘shall grow’.
None of us can choose the name our parents give us at birth, but we can all legally change it when we reach adulthood should we wish to be known by another name. Fortunately, I have always liked my Christian and surname. I was baptised William after my maternal grandfather, and I have always called Billy by any Forde family member (named after my father’s brother) whilst my everyday name to my friends and workmates was Bill. I have often wondered what I would do if my parents had given me a girl’s name at birth or decided to call me Archibald, Fortescue, or Reginald? Would I have lived with it or modified it to make it more acceptable to my ears? It is even possible to change one’s surname by deed poll, and my sister Susan did this and assumed our maternal grandparents' Irish name.
In fact, it is almost as easy to change one’s name today either in part or whole, as it is to change some item one has bought in an iron monger’s shop. As we move further into the 21st century, we can even change our gender today if we cannot accept the body that we were born into. Or if we wish to change our sexual orientation in a non-invasive manner that does not require an operation, it could not be easier; we simply need to declare ourselves man, or woman, or fish!
Today, it is extremely easy to be designated one of the ‘trans people’, whereas way back in the late 1960s and early 70s, the only way we were able to bring a bit of extra colour into our lives was by watching the British all-female dance troupe called ‘Pan’s People’ on the ‘Top of the Pops’. They were that lovely, it would not have bothered me in the slightest whether they were called Jack or Jill.
Love and peace Bill xxx