WIAA: Alyson…, oh Alyson.
ALYSON: Hi WIAA, I’m sorry I missed adding to your pages last weekend but I was away from home, having a wonderful couple of days with another man.
WIAA: Oh. Didn’t expect that to be the reason! What did your other half say about that or did you not tell him?
ALYSON: No, he knew and was ok with it. In fact he joined us during the day for long walks and trips to coffee shops but went home at night to leave us to it.
WIAA: This is getting weirder and weirder Alyson, and I thought I knew you.
ALYSON: It was magical WIAA. We snuggled up in bed at night and I stroked his gorgeous brown curls. In the morning his head was lying next to me on the pillow and his paw was on my shoulder.
WIAA: Paw, paw – what kind of half-man/half-beast is he?!?
ALYSON: Oh sorry, did I not make it clear? I was spending the weekend with Alfie the puppy whilst his mum and dad were away.
WIAA: Grrr… I think you were messing with me there Alyson.
ALYSON: Maybe I was, a bit, but I fooled you didn’t I? Anyway that’s why I wasn’t able to write a new blog post last weekend but now that I’m a regular blogger again I’m sure I’ll make up for it down the line.
WIAA: Ok, you’re excused. Any appropriate songs for me?
ALYSON: Well I have been looking for songs about dogs but they’re either overly sentimental, novelty songs or just plain bad. I did find this one though written by Harry Nilsson called The Puppy Song. I didn’t even realise it was his song as the only version I knew was the one by David Cassidy from 1973, when it was released as a double A-side along with the song Daydreamer.
I remember being gifted a flexi-single with Jackie magazine in 1973. It had a few words from David Cassidy in conversational style then he shared snippets of both the songs on the upcoming double A-side. It got to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart so that little bit of promotion obviously did the trick, although at that time he was selling out stadiums all over the world, so he perhaps didn’t need any help in achieving sales.
We first got to know about David Cassidy from his role playing Keith Partridge in the kid’s television show The Partridge Family. It first aired in the UK in 1971 when I was still in Primary School and it’s fair to say most of us girls developed a huge crush on David and he started to fill the pages of our magazines. By the time I got to Secondary School he was a bona fide teen idol, outselling every other artist in the world. As the teenage hormones started to kick in I found myself bursting into tears as I listened to his songs, and I didn’t even understand why.
Poor David died young at the age of 67 in 2017 and I wrote a tribute for him (link here). I also made him the main character in a bit of fairy-tale fan fiction the following year (link here). It centred around his rivalry with fellow teen idol Donny Osmond and although it was fun to write, it perhaps didn’t do my music blogging credibility much good!
Anyway the last word should go to the real life puppy, my lovely weekend companion, Alfie. He was genuinely upset when I packed my bag to go home and apparently sulked with his mum and dad all Sunday evening, giving them the side-eye as if to say, “I had much more fun with granny”. There will be many other weekends and holidays I’m sure.
Until next time…
The Puppy Song Lyrics
(Song by Harry Nilsson)
Dreams are nothing more than wishes
And a wish is just a dream
You wish to come true, woo woo
If only I could have a puppy
I’d call myself so very lucky
Just to have some company
To share a cup of tea with me
I’d take my puppy everywhere
La, la, la-la I wouldn’t care
And we would stay away from crowds
And signs that said no dogs allowed
Oh we, I know he’d never bite me
Whoa de lo…….
We, I know he’d never bite me
If only I could have a friend
To stick with me until the end
And walk along beside the sea
Share a bit of moon with me
I’d take my friend most everywhere
La, la, la-la I wouldn’t care
We would stay away from crowds
With signs that said no friends allowed
Oh we, we’d be so happy to be
Whoa de lo………….
We, we’d be so happy to be together
But dreams are nothing more than wishes
And a wish is just a dream
You wish to come true
Whoa whoa……….
Dreams are nothing more than wishes
And a wish is just a dream
You wish to come true
Whoa whoa woo……..
What's It All About? 
Hi. Nilsson was a very talented guy. I listened to a couple of his albums recently. Your essay has reminded me that I want to listen to several more of them.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I was kinda a bit too young to really appreciate Harry Nilsson and knew him best for the song Without You which topped our Singles Chart for weeks back in 1971. That song of course wasn’t even one of his but was written by the guys from Badfinger.
Hope you enjoy revisiting his albums.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Alfie certainly looks and sounds like a charmer – who could resist his canine wiles?!
Good to be reminded too of your David Cassidy story, which was very clever. Any more like this in the pipeline…?
LikeLiked by 1 person
What can I say? I am smitten.
I must admit I really enjoyed writing that story and it just flowed but I think I may have lost a few followers around then – not many male music bloggers would have gone there. No plans at the moment to write another but if you give me a theme and a prompt I might consider it?
LikeLike
Ooh, yes, let me have a think! I have a similar thing going on with some of my art friends, it’s very motivating to have something to work with that has come from outside your own ideas (we set a mini projects on different themes or inspired by other artists and go outside our comfort zones!) It’d be great to see some more fictional style writing from you – I’m sure it wouldn’t put off any long term readers or followers, even if not to their taste, as it doesn’t change who you are or what else you blog about the rest of the time. Anyway, I’ll try and get back to you on that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks C. As you say it’s good to get a prompt from elsewhere that fires up your imagination. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
LikeLike
Here’s a prompt – I won’t be at all offended if you don’t take it up! But if you do want to…
It’s the late 1960s. You (or a central character if you want to write in the third person) are 19 years old, have no commitments and have saved up enough money to take a flight to a place you/they really want to see, even though you/they don’t know anyone there – Laurel Canyon. Who will you/they meet and what will happen – and will you/they stay and start a whole new life out there or come home after a short adventure? Will you/they become friends with the ‘Ladies of the Canyon’ (or maybe you/they are one!)?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooft – you would think that would be an easy one for me but don’t think I can come up with fairytale fan fiction this time. Or could I? Leave it with me and I’ll mull over it.
Like the sound of your challenges with your art friends. You must share what your different projects have been. A great idea. DD has just taken up sewing with a passion and has made all sorts of things in the last week alone – a baby’s quilt, a hot water bottle cover and now she’s designing little neckerchiefs for Alfie’s collar! I’ve picked up the knitting needles again and have a project on the go for making little gifts. I’ll bring one to Leeds for you!
LikeLike
Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to make it hard! I misunderstood and just made it a prompt for any kind of general short story, not fairytale fan fiction (other than reading your DC one I’m not sure I really know what the premise is for the latter!) But if you do feel like writing another sort of short story around it I’d love to read, otherwise please disregard!
Ooh, your knitted gift project sounds lovely, look forward to seeing more. And great about DD’s new passion too. Unfortunately I can neither sew nor knit so have huge admiration for anyone who can.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, ignore my negativity. I have an idea for something already so just need to pad it out a bit. I found that last story really easy to write actually so I think I’ll go down the same path this time.
My knitted gift project is very basic and easy to make so it’s not “the gift” if you know what I mean. Will bring one for you though.
LikeLike