Suede, Me & a Late Friend.Listen to my story and share yours
Posted: 26 Mar 2010, 02:59
Suede has always been a very personal part of my life and I am certain they are to everyone here as well. Here is my story on how they have played a huge role in my growing up years and I hope others will share theirs. There aren’t many of us left so it will be nice to know that there is someone out there who feels the same way.
I’m 26 and I am from Singapore. I’m lying down on my bed in a guesthouse in London as I am writing this. This will not be the greatest essay you have read, but it’s from the heart.
My first day in Secondary school (aged 13) was daunting, I was posted to a school without any of my Primary school mates and at that age the last thing anyone wanted was to be lonely. However, I made friends with a tubby quiet kid who was sitting in the school yard alone. After talking for a bit, he took out his walkman cassette player and shared one side of his ear phones with me.
The first Suede song in my life was “Beautiful Ones” and I was blown away. Brett’s unique metallic voice, a dozen guitar parts woven into one single masterpiece and words that meant so much. Coming from a poor family, I knew I had to save up for at least a month to buy the album (I was given 50 cents a day and the album was $12).
The next day Zamri gave me a copy of the album which he had dubbed using his Cassette player at home and he wrote out the lyrics to every song. I was truly touched that someone I barely knew spent so much of time on a stranger. We remained good friends ever since.
8 months after our graduation from secondary school, Zamri passed away at the age of 17, a victim of diabetes. I was devastated, I cried and I mourned. I couldn’t even bring myself to attend his funeral, which is something I regret till this very day. 9 years have passed but the pain still lingers.
This trip to London, is the first time I’ve travelled out of Asia. I’m here with my fiancé, who is also a Suede fan, for her graduation ceremony which had happened last week. A month before we departed, we found out that Suede were having a reunion show at the Royal Albert Hall and my fiancé was ecstatic because the date coincided with our trip. I’ve had the good fortune to have watched Suede perform in Singapore thrice, but she has never been to a Suede gig so this reunion show really meant a lot to her.
The performance was spectacular and as I looked around from my seat in the grand tier, I saw so many people dancing in their seats, jumping on the stairs, hugging their loved ones. It hit me; everyone here was lost in time, that one show had given every single member of the audience an opportunity to relive their youth for one night. It didn’t matter if you were saving lives in a hospital or flipping burgers for a living because at that moment in time you were a teenager again. Everyone was equal.
Tears ran down my cheeks as I sat looking at my fiancé jump up and down in her seat. Memories and images of him began to fill my mind, but they were happy ones.
Thank you; Brett, Mat, Richard, Simon, Neil and everyone else who was there for making it a truly memorable experience. Zamri, this one’s for you old friend.
"Let's do this again in 7 years." - Brett Anderson
I’m 26 and I am from Singapore. I’m lying down on my bed in a guesthouse in London as I am writing this. This will not be the greatest essay you have read, but it’s from the heart.
My first day in Secondary school (aged 13) was daunting, I was posted to a school without any of my Primary school mates and at that age the last thing anyone wanted was to be lonely. However, I made friends with a tubby quiet kid who was sitting in the school yard alone. After talking for a bit, he took out his walkman cassette player and shared one side of his ear phones with me.
The first Suede song in my life was “Beautiful Ones” and I was blown away. Brett’s unique metallic voice, a dozen guitar parts woven into one single masterpiece and words that meant so much. Coming from a poor family, I knew I had to save up for at least a month to buy the album (I was given 50 cents a day and the album was $12).
The next day Zamri gave me a copy of the album which he had dubbed using his Cassette player at home and he wrote out the lyrics to every song. I was truly touched that someone I barely knew spent so much of time on a stranger. We remained good friends ever since.
8 months after our graduation from secondary school, Zamri passed away at the age of 17, a victim of diabetes. I was devastated, I cried and I mourned. I couldn’t even bring myself to attend his funeral, which is something I regret till this very day. 9 years have passed but the pain still lingers.
This trip to London, is the first time I’ve travelled out of Asia. I’m here with my fiancé, who is also a Suede fan, for her graduation ceremony which had happened last week. A month before we departed, we found out that Suede were having a reunion show at the Royal Albert Hall and my fiancé was ecstatic because the date coincided with our trip. I’ve had the good fortune to have watched Suede perform in Singapore thrice, but she has never been to a Suede gig so this reunion show really meant a lot to her.
The performance was spectacular and as I looked around from my seat in the grand tier, I saw so many people dancing in their seats, jumping on the stairs, hugging their loved ones. It hit me; everyone here was lost in time, that one show had given every single member of the audience an opportunity to relive their youth for one night. It didn’t matter if you were saving lives in a hospital or flipping burgers for a living because at that moment in time you were a teenager again. Everyone was equal.
Tears ran down my cheeks as I sat looking at my fiancé jump up and down in her seat. Memories and images of him began to fill my mind, but they were happy ones.
Thank you; Brett, Mat, Richard, Simon, Neil and everyone else who was there for making it a truly memorable experience. Zamri, this one’s for you old friend.
"Let's do this again in 7 years." - Brett Anderson