Another Tme, Another Place

I was in the 9^th standard and staying over at my aunt’s (my father’s youngest sister and my favourite aunt) place in Ballygunge, Bondel Road because Ma was in the hospital. Though I could have easily stayed at home, Baba insisted on my staying with chhoto pishi so that he did not have to worry. Also, Ma had been put in a hospital close to Ballygunge Phari and it was easy for me to go there twice or thrice a day carrying food and whatever else she needed.

This piece is not going to be about Ma or chhoto pishi though. It is about my introduction to a singer who has remained my first choice till today. His songs have seen me through many bleak hours, his lyrics had formed my notions of love when I knew nothing of this emotion. Today, those notions have changed but my love for his songs have not.

Chhoto pishi has two daughters—both older than me. The eldest is more than ten years my senior and to a naïve, book-reading, fourteen-year old appeared immensely worldly wise and sophisticated. I secretly admired her and was also in awe of her. One day, before leaving for the uni, she asked me, “Arrey, you are not going to school today?” When I responded in the negative, she said, “What are you going to do? You will be bored. Wait, let me show you some records you can listen to.” She gave me a pile of records and showed me how to put them on and left.

I looked at the pile and then sat down on the floor with the lot. One or two familiar names caught my eye like Pat Boone and Nat King Cole. (Baba had introduced me to them.) The rest were all unknown to me then. Billy Joel, Tom Jones, Nana Muskourie, Bob Dylan…I kept putting them aside not feeling inspired to listen to any. I was just about to chuck the lot and go back to my daily ritual of listening to Kishore, Manna, Asha, Rafi, when the last record in the pile caught my attention. The only thing that differentiated it from the rest was the name of the singer—a long, unpronounceable name. I read the name carefully, twice over, breaking it down into discrete syllables to get it right. I flipped the record over and read the titles of the songs. A Man Without Love, I Will Be Loving You Eternally, Last Waltz, Ten Guitars…I decided to put on the record.

The first notes in deep, rich, baritone that wafted out caught me spellbound. I know today that there are better singers, better lyricists, profounder songs than those sung by Engelburt Humperdinck, but at 14, listening to I will be loving you eternally, I was lost to his voice. Songs like Lady of the Night fed a 14-year old’s romantic notions. Who can forget Too Beautiful to Last. I was mesmerised and kept on playing the record over and over. The songs introduced me to a whole new world of emotions I had never felt before.

After I came home, I told Baba how much I had loved the songs and he immediately took me out to buy me a cassette. it was not available in all the shops we knew—this was long before Planet M or Music World came into existence. Baba and I finally went to Free School Street behind New Market and tracked down an LP of the songs. Since we didn’t have an LP player, Baba got that recorded into a cassette so that I could hear it. The first song is Release Me, then, The Way it Used to Be, Too Beautiful to Last, Pretty Ribbon…

I still have the cassette though it has become squeaky and scratchy. I had inserted a picture of Humperdinck that I had gathered from a magazine a few years later in the cassette cover.

For me, Engelburt Humperdinck is not only a singer. Because of him, I shared some wonderful moments with my father, and with my first close friend (I won’t call him my boy friend because I did not think of him as such. He was someone who loved music and was my mentor, friend, guide, confidante…I loved him and respected him and he loved Humperdinck too.) Those moments and days were too beautiful to last but while they lasted, they filled me with joy and have left behind memories that I am thankful for.

Maybe there will be another time, another place when I will see an old, familiar face…

As I grew up and heard the profounder lyrics of Baez and Dylan, I loved them too. But somehow, Engelburt Humperdinck occupies a very special place.

I have put the lyrics of two songs here:

1. A time for us, someday there'll be
   When chains are torn by courage born of a love that's free
   A time when dreams so long denied
   Can flourish
   As we unveil the love we now must hide
   
   A time for us, at last to see
   A life worthwhile for you and me
   
   And with our love through tears and thorns
   We will endure
   As we pass surely through every storm
   A time for us, someday there'll be
   A new world
   A world of shining hope for you and me
   
   And with our love through tears and thorns
   We will endure
   As we pass surely through every storm
   A time for us, someday there'll be
   A new world
   A world of shining hope for you and me
   A world of shining hope for you and me

2. Another time, another place
   her candles flicker in the fading light
   I sit alone and watch that lonely night
   I see you everywhere and i try desperately to hide
   
   chorus:
   another time, another place, I see that old familiar face
   and I try hard to catch your eye
   another road, another mile, I see that old familiar smile
   but you'll be with somebody new
   Another night, another day, I’ll see you standing in my way
   I’ll stop and say "hello, my friend"
   Another place, another time, you'll tell me you've been doing fine
   and walk away from me once more.
   
   I try to run away from sad regrets
   the bitter wine won't help me to forget
   that I locked up my heart and threw away the precious key
   
   chorus:
   another night, another day, I’ll see you standing in my way
   I’ll stop and say "hello, my friend"
   another place, another time, you'll tell me you've been doing fine
   and walk away from me once more