I was in an Oldham pub called the Honeywell… I think we had been playing squash at a club up the road, or maybe we were about to go and play squash up the road, or maybe it was after a teachers’ evening after school, or before said evening… anyway a load of colleagues and friends, a gang of us were in the Honeywell having a drink and good time, when a band I now know as Culture Club came on with ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me’ and I was utterly captivated! Was the singer a man or a woman? Did it matter? It was wonderful – the song, I mean, s/he was wonderful too! I was so intrigued, it was nothing like anything I had ever seen or heard before!
My dad, who was born in 1919, had an incredibly eclectic taste in music; he liked it if he liked it, he had no preconceived ideas. It could be the lyric, the melody, the instruments playing, the voice. He particularly liked Culture Club, although he always called Boy George, George Boy.
When I first came to Manchester I was a Beatles as opposed to a Stones fan, but I also liked Cream, The Incredible String Band, and a lot of other alternative stuff… the friends I met were really full-on into Northern Soul and we went to clubs and danced and rocked, Motown, the Isleys, other black bands, plus Canned Heat who played at our Polytechnic… Discos saw me through the 70’s and despite what people say there was a lot of good music… then, the 80’s… my life changed and I had a time when things were not so good, not so happy, but there were positives too – and for me, this song is a sort of anthem for that period in my life – but also separately for a time I can look back on more objectively, and see good as well as dark!
Lois Elsden 
I can’t imagine you being not so happy seeing that you are so upbeat on your blog. I listened to your interview with Emma Britton on YouTube about self publishing and eerily enough your voice sounded like my brothers. What was even more strange was that the next video was of your favorite band the Mavericks. I think there is the start of a book here.
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Good grief!!! I didn’t realise I was on YouTube – do you think I should do some readings or something to promote my books?
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I don’t have a clue how you get on youtube as I just searched for you and came up with your radio interview. These sights scare me with just how much they know about us by the topics and music we search for. Just imagine what the government knows. Images of 1984. You really do sound a little like my brother so I’m thinking that you may be my sister that was given up for adoption or kidnapped by the gypsies. Don’t you see another book here Lois. If so put me in the credits!
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I think that is a definite idea… but I think a little Lois might have run away with the gypsies!
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I can picture little Lois with a bandana on her head and a big loop earring in one ear dancing around the campfire beating her tamborine with wild abandon. By the way,the gypsies used to set up camp near to us in OldTrafford so who knows? There’s a side to you that your keeping a secret.
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I grew up in Cambridge, and there were lots of gypsies around where we lived because of all the fruit farms where they could get work! My dad always reckoned we had gypsy blood in the family!
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They played Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves at my third wedding so that should have given me a clue what I was in for. Love is blind though!
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What a great song! And yes, love can be blind… some times that’s a good thing, if you can be a bit short-sighted and forgiving about your beloved’s faults – and hope they are the same to you!
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As they said in math class exams ( If your having trouble with a problem, move on to the next one ) That adage really sank in. It went on to define my life.
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That actually is really true… this could feature in YOUR next book, The World According to Dave!
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