Justin Hayward: Forever Autumn

When I lose my marbles — assuming a bus doesn't knock me down first — it'll be the songs from the charts of Summer 1978 that you'll hear me mumbling under my breath. "My Maserati does 185 / I lost my licence and now I can't drive". That and Airport by The Motors, Miss You, Bryan Ferry's Sign of the Times, Love is in the Air by somebody Jones, Northern Lights, Ca Plâne Pour Moi, of course, and Jilted John. I can't quite remember how Marshall Hain's Summer in the City went (YouTube is always there to remind me), and The Smurf Song is also mercifully lost. I can't be sure when Forever Autumn peaked in the charts, but I think it was later in the summer: August, or even September.

Sometime later we got the whole War of the Worlds album. That's "we" as in the family — I've a sneaky suspicion I conned my parents into paying for it. Lord knows what happened to that copy. Courtesy of Spotify, I listened to the whole album again. David Essex as an artillery man, and Phil Lynott as a mad Parson! But of course Richard Burton holds the whole thing together. It's a very 1970s thing, from the rock opera conceit, to the synthesiser in the opening track that manages to sound like someone whistling through their teeth. And Forever Autumn has that same classic 1978™ guitar solo at the end (cf. Wuthering Heights).

There's another story I could tell about the school cross-country runs that I used to hate so much, which took us past the Horsell Common sandpit where the Martians first landed. But, well, that's all there is to the story really, so it's not much of one.

I loved this song in 1978, but I didn't buy this single then. The first single I ever bought was still a few months in the future. I got this several years later, possibly in 1985 from the Andy's Records on Mill Road, possibly even later. Wikipedia drops the bombshell that it wasn't even written specially for the War of the Worlds, but was first released in another version in 1972.

MusicBrainz entry for this single Wikipedia entry for this song Rate Your Music entry for this single Listen to this track in full at Last.fm Listen to this song in full at We7 Listen to the album in full at Spotify

Comments

[Karen Angela Nicholson]

Heathcliff! It's Kathy, Iv'e come home####~~~~.Angie.K.xxXXxx.

[Karen Angela Nicholson]

Dear Heathcliff! Sorry baby, would have come home along time ago, if I could have done.Always playing the martyr as you well know! I am using my old mobile phone once more as I have sold my new one to my daughter Keely .Very sad about that.However my old number is 07879418371 .I hope and pray you will give me a bell! Many apologies I have accidently erased your number,so please let me have it again,like yesterday.All my love and deepest devotion Kathy.XXxxXX.

[David]

Unquiet slumbers, indeed.