This evening I’ve played an album I have for the first time in a little while and was surprised (again) by how powerful emotions were dragged up from the time I first got the music and used to play it over and over again…

It was over 20 years ago when I had my first (unrequited) love. The woman was called Vincenza Perkins and was in the 5th form when I was in the upper 6th. I adored her greatly but was too shy to ask her out.. well, not until it was too late and she was going out with someone else anyway.

To cut a long story short, I really fell for this woman and spent many, many evenings lovelorn listening to Jean-Michel Jarre’s Magnetic Fields, especially part four as it was in a minor key and the second part seemed very forlorn, it resonated with my feelings.

Tonight, yes, over 20 years after this disasterous and very painful experience, all those emotions and feelings came back when I played that same music again. It’s very surprising that mere music can do this. But it’s such a bitter-sweet pain and just as intense as it ever was. It’s a scar which will never heal, no doubt.