What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?
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I’m a cautious, cowardly type 😀. I’m sure that we all do little spontaneous things every day – such as deciding to go for a walk around the block if it’s sunny. But I can’t think of anything that I’d classify as the most spontaneous thing that I’ve ever done.
One memory that comes to mind is being outside the Royal Festival Hall in London in September 1984. This guy came up and offered to sell me a ticket for a miners strike benefit concert.
I was keen to go because I liked the Style Council, who were playing. But I was nervous of handing over the money to a stranger. So, I insisted that he hand me the ticket first. I was a bit embarressed about being so untrusting 😀.
Then, when I went in, he was sitting next to me. He probably sold the ticket because one of his friends didn’t turn up. I was even more embarressed then 😀. Several comedians came on, as did Wham and The Style Council. And Arthur Scargill himself gave a little speech. Some people, who were only interested in the music, heckled him, and some of the miners got cross with them. It got quite scary for a while. I found the concert some years later on Setlist, but I’m sorry that there’s no videos of it on YouTube.
I saw The Style Council and Wham at Live Aid the following year, and I saw Paul Weller in Cork in 2010 and in Limerick in 2024.
Anyway, at the Striking Miners Benefit Gig, The Style Council played the piano version of My Ever Changing Moods, which was one of my favourite songs that year. In fact, that’s the song that got me into them. When I met the girl who was to become my wife the following year, she sold me their Cafe Bleu tape. I was impressed that she liked the Style Council too 😀.
Wham only mimed, but I didn’t mind that. I wasn’t a Wham fan, but like so many other teenie pop bands, their music forms the soundtrack to my life. I do quite like Careless Whisper:
So, can I weave any Christian content into today’s post? I could talk about my decision to commit my life to Christ in August 1980, but that wasn’t spontaneous. I had been thinking it through for about five years. But for other people, it can be spontaneous – think of the Apostle Paul, and his conversion on the road to Damascas. And quite a good few New Testament conversions seemed to be spontaneous. Maybe it’s because it was the first time that they were confronted with Jesus. In Ireland, you hear about him from childhood. But as a teen, I wanted to think it all through for myself rather than just go along with the cultural religion of those around me. George Harrision inspired me to do that. He had been a Roman Catholic too – though he was into the Hare Krishna form of Hinduism – or something similar. I remember hearing My Sweet Lord in 1975. I sounded familiar, so I probably heard it too back in 1971. It was nice to hear cool people singing about God, however they understood him, in a world where religion was so uncool.
Here are a couple of hymns about deciding to follow Jesus: Interestingly, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus originated in India too.
