This is day 18 in my Dance Inspirations Advent Calendar (II)

If I only had wings is another song from And the bands played on (see earlier entry). Apparently it was written in 1939, with words by Sid Colin, and music by Ronnie Aldrich. It was once a bit of a hit, but evidently not for long, so I can’t find the lyrics or details of recordings anywhere on the net now. From the moment I heard it, I loved the madcap happiness of the song, and especially its middle eight, which manages to pack so many punches in eight bars, you feel like you’ve been away for the weekend by the time the tune comes back in. It’s great fun to play, and works well for jumps.

I know that my taste in music is a bit odd – not surprising, considering how much it owes to the junk shops, jumble sales and bargain bins that I’ve trawled in every country I’ve visited. But I have private and very good reasons for liking the things I like, so I was really chuffed when Harald Krytinar said that this song was one of his favourites for class, for mostly the same reasons that I like it. That’s the reason it went on to the class album we produced together, and that’s why he gets it for this Advent calendar class.