Badfinger, Robert Burns, Christchurch, Dunedin (A Tall Travel Tale To Tell?)

NZNZNZNZNZNZNZNZNZNZ....SONGS I LOVE

It's a tragedy that New Zealand's Christchurch has been hit by an earthquake. The city brings back memories, having been there way back in the early 70s, when I was on a three week attachment from my one year stint in Wellington.

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The people are truly a lovely lot; they are warm, polite, hospitable, kind and mostly generous. My short stay had been a memorable one. I know the situation in Christchurch will improve and hope the people well.

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During the second weekend in this floral city, our group decided to travel south for a two day fun trip to Dunedin. As I wandered alone downtown on the second day, I met a lass gazing at the statue of *Robert Burns. We struck up a conversation and she told me she was Scottish. During our chat, we realised our interest were in Burns' poetry and pop music. Since the latter was more interesting, we whiled away our time exchanging songs and melodies we loved.
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So amidst discussion about Elvis, Cliff, Donegan, Donovan, Marmalade, Connie Francis, The Beatles and Russ Hamilton, she asked me if I knew a song by **Badfinger (image). I was struck dumb. "Bad who?" I asked surprised as I heard loudly the ego-bubble bursting. So as the Brit group was revealed, I learnt a song.

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To this day, Come And Get It (1970) will always be associated with Christchurch and Dunedin. Although it was many tears ago, I still recollect that the coffee we had was hot and me bonnie lassie was prettier than Dunedin's southern skies.

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But I had never really taken advantage of what was offered and we parted good friends. Now Audie Ng will understand why I love to sing, My Bonnie on stage.

The lassie from Dunee taught me the expressive introduction to Badfinger's hit:

If you want it, here it is come and get it
Mmm, make your mind up fast
If you want it anytime I can get it
But you'd better hurry, cause it may not last...

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*Robert Burns, The Bard, was a Scottish poet and a lyricist (1759 – 1796).
**No matter the tragedy within their ranks, Badfinger was one of the greatest Brit bands ever.