Life has moments of cliche. Life has moments of coincidence. But if there’s a word that denotes a repeated combination of the two, I don’t know it. Multiclichincidence. Periodic Co-che. Whatever. My particular multiclichincidence is that every time I’ve ever visited Germany, which is getting on for… quite a few I guess, in some public way, on the radio in a taxi, in a shopping centre, or in this case as background music in the breakfast-room of a lovely hotel, the song ‘Wind of Change’ by The Scorpions follows me around like a mordant spirit clad in spandex. For some reason this week, lack of headphones probably, I haven’t listened to any music of my own volition. This is rare. But I’ve spent some time in Germany. So ‘Wind of Change’ has found me. Again. I was fifteen when the Berlin Wall came down – probably too old to be one of the ‘children of tomorrow’ that lead vocalist Rudy Scorpion dedicates the song to. I imagine they were as-yet-unborn in 1989. Or maybe just being born. So right now they’d be, I dunno, twenty, or twenty-one. I wonder if they know the song. It’s probably all ancient history to them. They probably don’t hear the whistled melody the intro, foreshadowing the majesty of the chorus, and feel the same love and optimism that wells up in me. But every time I see one of them I think – you might not know it, but The Scorpions were singing to you. Even in the womb, or before your brain could process language, they were on your side. I hope you did well. I hope you did them proud.
Chris