For Kirsty
Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of Kirsty MacColl's death. I don't get teary eyed about it like I used to, but I never forget. In the evening I put on Titanic Days and toasted her memory with a nice glass of red. I think it's a tribute she would have appreciated.
I have fond memories of Kirsty coming into the HMV shop I worked at in Ealing. She was always sweet, polite and not at all "starry".
She then had the honour of being the first person I ever interviewed when I worked for the HMV website a few years later. Again, she was adorable and almost as nervous as me. God knows, I was bricking it! We had a lame chat about the weather before the interview started, it was all so normal and gave me fresh confidence.
But her influence on my life has been greater than that. After the devastation of her death, something she once said on TV came back to me. I was at the tail end of relationship that had been dragging on for years. I knew it was time to leave but was scared of making the break. For some reason Kirsty's words came to me really clearly, she was talking about her divorce from Steve Lillywhite, how she'd held out for years thinking "it was good once before, maybe it'll be good again." In the end she had realised that would never happen and so had left. "We're both much happier now", she said. And she was right.
Moving away from that situation opened up a whole new world of opportunities for me, I wouldn't have the life or any of the friends I have now if I had stayed.
A group of us paid to have a memorial installed in Soho Square - an empty bench, like the lyrics of one of her songs.
This sentiment has been used before, but it's still the most beautiful: Kirsty MacColl - thank you for the days.
3 comments:
Those are lovely memories to have of Kirsty. My main memory is of walking to work across Clapham Common in 1989 during a bus strike and singing along to 'Days' on the radio. Then singing it again walking along a beach in Sri Lanka in 2004.
Yep she would be surprised at how many lives she affected.
We will never see her like again..
I was surprised at how much her death affected me considering I knew little of her material at the time. But she was one of those people who just seemed so "right", that when I heard I instantly pricked up my ears, sat bolt upright and stared at the news going "oh no!"
This year I finally indulged myself in buying some CDs and every time I listen to them (which is often) I'm still stunned at how versatile, witty and natural her songwriting was.
She was truly one of the royalty of British Music and I think whether you're fan of her music or not you can't help but love her on some level.
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