The concert I paid for

I first heard Val Doonican sing out from a vinyl album within my parent's collection. I liked his slow ballads more than his catchy Irish ditties and this lead to this song becoming the first of his tunes that I memorized and could therefore sing along with. Sporadic playing of the disc during my teens and watching Val on TV shows in my youth lead me to the desire to attend a live performance when he toured Australia in 1990. At this time, I lived with a difficult partner with whom I had little in common. Music was definitely not one of the areas we shared compatibility wise. My former partner made it obvious that he was not willing to waste his money attending such a performance, but at the same time made it plainly obvious that he did not want me to attend alone. The only solution was for me to pay for his ticket and drag him along unwillingly, just to enjoy the event myself.

I did not know which songs Mr. Doonican would sing, but hoped he would pick some I was familiar with, perhaps this song, which had become a firm favorite. Arriving slightly later than I would have done if attending alone, and worried for a time that my former partner would not even turn up at all, we made it in time and I was able to enjoy the performance.

There was a point in the show where the suggestion that any requests be handed to the gallery officers during the interlude was made. Naturally, this song was scribbled on a piece of paper and handed in, with high hopes from the ever enthusiastic me. Alas, the guide I approached had not been attending to the concert and did not understand what to do with my request. I assume it never reached its destination, or otherwise Mr. Doonican had some reason not to include the song as he did not sing it. It was a special event for me, despite the fact that he did not actually sing the specific song that I would have enjoyed the most. Most of the material covered was familiar to me, as I had since purchased a couple of albums from the second hand record store I frequented regularly.