before things go too far, i thought i should mention where my mum fits into all this. if i just talk about my dad, you may think he was a single parent. which isn’t the case. it’s just that, to be honest, i’m not sure that mum’s contribution of neil diamond had much of an influence.
now, i won’t pretend i can’t sing along with a song or two, especially songs from the jazz singer soundtrack. i am not here to start some sort of “amber hates neil diamond” drama. i mean, wearing a black neil diamond t-shirt at college caused great confusion and glee. (the most visible thing on the shirt, from a distance, was “diamond,” which caused many people to believe it must be a king diamond shirt.) but, really, i’ll be interested in hearing if anyone can locate the influence of mr. diamond or his peers in our music.
mum’s interaction with the music i like has been pretty limited as well. whilst i was learning to drive and she was in the car, she did get a carefully selected exposure to things i liked. but it became clear that she wasn’t really engaged when she noted, not using names but saying things like “that last band” and “this band,” that the smiths were much happier music than the cocteau twins. i guess that means i need not have been so worried about what she might think of the lyrics…
as far as her response to my music…well, let’s just say she isn’t a fan and leave it at that. and let’s also say that i wasn’t surprised and not really hurt by that. so it’s okay.
and that is why you are unlikely to hear much about mum here. not that i plan to talk much about the other members of my family either. but i thought i should at least acknowledge that i have a mum and she was very present in my life but doesn’t really have much to do with my music.