What About Me?

For the benefit of all those people who are Shannon Noll fans, the song “What About Me?” was first recorded by a band called Moving Pictures in 1982. It stayed at number one on the charts for two months and will always be one of my all time favourite songs. Shannon did a real good job of covering it, but as it is with most songs, you always come back to the version you heard first.

I turned 8 in 1982. I had grown up in Belmont North in New South Wales. We were living in a house on the Pacific Highway and only a few doors down was a newsagent where I would frequent anytime I got a couple of bucks to spend. Remember that this was a time when $2.00 could actually get you something worthwhile. It was usually only lollies or some kind of paint or pencils which I would never end up making use of anyways.

But what I remember most about this shop was standing in line and watching all of the adults getting served while I stood there and waited…and waited…and waited. Looking back, I probably wasn’t being ignored. Chances are I just didn’t have the nous to know how to line up. The half dozen people that were getting served before me were probably already waiting before me. Either way, that song never had more meaning than it did when I was in that shop and now every time I hear it I remember standing in that newsagency. Waiting.

Unfortunately, I didn’t even have the benefit of being able to look at the ‘pretty girl serving at the counter of a corner shop’. It was some old guy who wasn’t nearly as good looking as the girl in Shannon Nolls film clip.

Something else I remember about that newsagency. There was a pinball machine that only cost 5 cents a game. It’s the only time I ever remember a pinball machine costing less than 20 cents per credit.