Went to the King's Arms tonight for their monthly "Kamikazee Karaoke", which is always a good evening. This is where the singers have no idea what they are going to have to sing until they are up on the stage. Tonights theme was film theme tunes, which meant that there were quite a few naff (in my view) musical numbers. However, one did stand out for me - Ritchie Valens's "La Bamba" (from the 1987 film of the same name). This is a song that I remember from way before the film.
This track was played regularly at parties when I was a teenager, in Brussels around 1976-79. There was a particular significance about this song. When it started everyone would form a circle, with one person in the middle. I can't remember how the first 'middle' person was selected - maybe it was the person whose birthday it was. The point of the "dance" was that the person in the centre of the circle got to choose to snog whoever thay wanted from the circle. Then, that person went to the centre of the circle and chose whoever they wanted to snog. And so on.
I recall this being a really significant song in the evening, and it would be played at random three or four times during the night. I also remember sereval occasions when I was 'chosen' and then got to choose who I wanted to snog. I suppose that means that I can't have been a wholy unattractive teenager.
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