The Songs That Made Me Love Music

From Guardian Unlimited:

Was it Stevie Wonder on Top of the Pops, or your hip older brother's Sonic Youth LPs? Paul Lester asks the chart-botherers of today to reminisce on their pop epiphanies

Katie Melua

John Lennon: Imagine

This song really grabbed me in a way that no other music had before. It was instant - I didn't have to listen to it twice. It was on the telly, on the news of all places. John Lennon was on for some reason, and the song just captivated me. I was at home, in Belfast, and when this came on I rushed into the living room. I was about nine years old. It was the melody that captivated me at first: I loved its simplicity and, even though I hadn't heard it before, I felt like I'd heard it a million times. I was just frozen to the spot, and it made me in awe of not only the song, but the music itself. It got close to making me cry. After that, I asked my parents who it was, and I was told it was John Lennon, from the Beatles, so I decided I was going to be a Beatles fan. But I didn't have enough pocket money to go and buy all their albums so I've collected them all as I've grown up. The only song that's affected me in the same way since is Eva Cassidy's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

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