One day, driving with the kids in the car, I heard this amazing new song. I was blown away and knew I needed the music immediately.
I drove to the Record Store. (ha! Remember those?!?)
Going in, I went to the clerks, explaining I had just heard this song on the radio, had no clue who it was, but thought I knew the song’s title: Sail Away. They looked at me like I was a nut, but I was undeterred. I began singing the Sail Away refrain, kids standing with me kind of laughing at their mother singing (with a not such a good voice) in a strange store. The staff politely listened, but said they had no idea. Ugh. Some help they were.
I stomped towards the cassette section, kidlets traipsing behind me. I started at the A’s, walking down, then up, then down aisle after aisle, totally blind as to what I was looking for.
Suddenly, I stopped, turned to my right, reached over and pulled a cassette out. It was Enya‘s Watermark. Never heard of her. I turned it to where I could see the songs and I was quite stunned to see “Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)“ on the song list. I was thrilled.
I have no explanation for how I knew exactly where to reach out in those racks of cassettes. It was the first (and only) cassette I touched that day. It still baffles me.
Enya & Birth Playlists
By the time I was doing home births, Enya was in her prime. It seemed she serenaded scores of babies into the world. For awhile, it was really nice. Then it was tedious. And finally irritating to listen to the same music over and over and over and over again. I got to a place where if I never heard Enya again, it would be too soon.
smiling
Native American music eventually replaced Enya for birth playlists, it following the same frustrating over-kill she had a few years earlier. I don’t have any idea what the fashion is at the moment.
I am listening to Watermark right as I write this, repeating “Orinoco Flow” several times. It really is so lovely.
Navelgazing Writer 