Short Stories: Sounds.

A couple of short pieces, done in workshops, inspired by songs/sound that brought back memories.

 

Aged Five – The Little Mermaid (Part of Your World).

I don’t really remember the first time I ever watched it. It’s just always been a part of my life; something I’ve always known and been familiar with, a comfort blanket if you will.

If I was sad, or spending the day home ill from school my mum would put it on for me and wrap me up tightly in my duvet. I would snuggle down on the family sofa with a bowl of soup or spaghetti shapes and sit enthralled by the magic of The Little Mermaid. 

I would watch it before bed time every single night, the whole sound track imprinted in my brain not to mention the effects on the rest of the house hold.

I guess it means more now than what it ever did.

It’s because I get it.

That’s the thing with Disney, it’s not just for children. From the outset it appears that the story is but deep down, the meaning really packs a punch.  My favourite song ‘Part of your World’ is quite literally about a young girl just trying to find her feet in a new place, something which I can really relate to now.

It’s about sacrifice and gain, putting yourself out there for the world to see and not being afraid when push comes to shove. Who’d have thought that one song from my childhood could have such an impact on my adult hood, not me at the age of five that’s for sure!

 

Aged Eighteen – KOS, Greece 2014 (Gecko ‘Overdrive’ Becky Hill and Oliver Heidens).

We’d turned up to the club about two hours early.

It was already 12:00pm.

At home the party would be in full swing by now. Some girl would already be insisting she’s always been a fan of a band she’s never heard of, the bar staff would have collected all of the ‘free shot’ coupons that were handed out on arrival and that one guy who tries his luck with everyone and anyone would have been thrown out by now for indecent exposure.

But here, the doors weren’t even open.

How were we to know? It was our first holiday completely parent free, I’d already surveyed the room for any signs that we were being broadcast on ‘sun, sex and suspicious parent’ but came up with nothing.

We’d touched down in Greece, myself and my friend Lauren, at about 8:00pm local time. Just enough time to throw our stuff in our rooms, get ready and get out we’d thought. Not for one second did we anticipate sitting outside the club eating free popcorn the manager had given us whilst waiting for the place to open!

After a long wait we got inside, the free popcorn made sense now. We’d arrived on popcorn party night.

The one song I can fully remember is overdrive.

Popcorn was being fired from every direction possible from ginormous cannons either side of the DJ booth. It filled up the entire dance floor.

People were throwing it, eating it, some were even rolling around making popcorn angels in it. It was in my hair, up my nose and down my top, but I couldn’t care less because everyone was the same. At home if my hair was a mess, it would be the end of the world but out here everyone is just up for a good time.

So when the lyric ‘tonight the rules do not apply’ blared out from the speakers, I was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

That was our first night, and every night after we heard the same song.