First record player was a wind-up gramophone with wooden 'needles' that my ftaher brought home from whatever the equivalent of a car boot sale was back then (chariot sale?). It played 78rpm records and he managed to get hold of a few of those too. I can still reel off almost every word of 'You Were Meant For Me' and 'The Broadway Melody' to this day.
A year or two later, he bought us a 'proper' electric record player, with a stacking arm and everything! He also decided what the first records for me and my two brothers should be, and they arrived with the record player. My older brother got 'The Songs Of Burl Ives', whilst my younger brother was treated to 'Songs From The Carry On Team' ('You Need Feet' by Bernard Bresslaw was a particular favourite, along with Kenneth Williams 'Cordwangle Song'). I got the pick of the bunch though, in 'Songs Of Danny Kaye'. My old man enjoyed comedy songs!
First LP I actually bought for myself was one called 'Songs Of Eurovision', and was one of those "Not Original Artists" recordings by session musicians. Most of the tracks (I thought) were better than the original versions. I can't actually remember what my first single was, but I do recall once buying one by accident. Or negligence perhaps, rushing out the shops in haste with my pocket money, forgetting that they didn't update the new charts for a day or two after they were announced, and asking for the "Number 1 please!" instead of the song by title and artist. Only when I completed the run home did I realise my expensive error (pocket money was thin on the ground back then). But I learned to love 'Son Of My Father' by Chicory Tip over time. I can remember the record I intended to buy, but I'm way too embarrassed to say what it was. I'll leave that to the sleuths out there to find out.
