Ian Dury on the emirates

" The deserts of Sudan, the gardens of Japan
The wilds of Borneo, the vineyards of Bordeaux
Hit me,hit me with the rhythm stick....

These were the hymns that i sang along as i listened to the UK hits of 1979 during my last week trip to Dubai courtesy of Emirate Airlines entertainment ICE(information, Communication,Entertainment) programme.

Yup, the Ian Dury and the Blockheads No 1 hit in 1979 brought back great memories of my college days in Halifax,UK.

I really enjoyed the songs on this Emirate Airlines flight featuring all UK no1 hits (you just select the year you want ).....Boom town Rats and their hit.."I don't like Mondays"..The evergreen Gloria Gaynor song, "I will survive", Blondie's " The tide is high"

Those were the great songs of my teenage years, like all teenagers we cant live without music, my favourite groups include The Police(Sting), Pink Floyd(Phil Collins) and of course Ian Dury and the Blockheads!!

The present generations may not know all these Pop groups but to us in those days their songs were a welcome solace particularly on dreary cold winter days and nights.

I also still remembered attending a Jackson 5 concert, yup Michael Jackson before he became all famous. With their Afro distinctive hairstyle seeing them performing at this small rundown theatre in Halifax one cannot imagine that Michael can be such a huge star a few years after that!!!

Ya .as i listened to all the hit songs of the 1979,80 and 81 era ,i cant feel the long 7 hour flight and the lyrics that one hymned as an 18 year old boy came back flooding to this middle aged man not realising that 30 years has passed on but then music always live on !!!

To the late Ian Dury...your song "hit me with the rhythm stick" remains one of my very favourite songs. Thank you.