She Bop
My dad’s birthday is coming up in about a week. He would have been 69 years old. I did a series of birthday posts last year, as a little tribute to a man who packed in a wealth of experiences into his 67 years. I think everyone who took the time to see some of my posts over the last two years about him knows that he had several interests. Music was one of his great loves and we had the privilege of being exposed to some great music while growing up. Our house was always filled with a motley mix of CCR, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, Boney M, the Gypsy Kings, Neil Diamond – disco, jazz, R&B, pop music and more blaring from his Bose speakers, which are in mint condition some 30 years later.
So this time around, I thought I would think of some of the songs that he liked or that remind me of him. 1984 comes to mind quite distinctly. Cyndi Lauper was ruling the charts with “Girls Just Wanna have Fun”, “Time After Time” and “She Bop” from her hit album "She’s So Unusual". Those songs used to play all the time at our house in Bangalore where my dad was posted at the time. We used to watch the videos often and my dad used to indulgently ignore our screechy rendition of the chorus:
“She bop he bop and we bop
I bop you bop and they bop
Be bop be bop a lu she bop
Ohh ohh she do she bop”
I bop you bop and they bop
Be bop be bop a lu she bop
Ohh ohh she do she bop”
My dad used to have hours of Top of the Pops videos, music concerts, audio cassettes and records, which we would watch or listen to for hours. Learning to copy the moves (unfortunately I grew up in the 80s, with some truly inexplicable dance role models like the boys from Wham!), singing along and dancing around the house were greatly encouraged by him! I still listen to “Time After Time” quite often, being one of my all-time favourite songs. But for some reason “She Bop” is the one I remember listening to with him. I can’t recall if it was the video or watching an awards show where Cyndi Lauper won something for that song, but it definitely brings back great memories of my dad (and the unfortunate fashion of that time!).
Thank you for the music Pa
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