Stranger On The Shore – Acker Bilk

 

This reminds me of our family home movies.
My Dad had a cine camera when I was a kid, when he used to play the films back to us on his projector screen there was no audio so we used to listen to songs like this as our accompanying soundtrack. My Grandad did similar with his slide shows, so when I hear this song it conjures up memories of birthday parties, family holidays and special occasions. Lots of my very young child hood recollections are based on those films, we never watched them in order so my whole child hood was one long mixture of various amounts of candles on cakes, different sized bikes and go-karts. It was always a special treat to watch these films, it was a big under taking to set up the projector and the big screen, we used to sit in the dark with the clacking of the camera as it transferred the film from one reel to the other and usually for fun back again in reverse. Reliving all those fun times.

This song is so soothing, the vibe it gives off is pure relaxation, you melt away as you listen to it. Such a simple tune so expertly played by Acker Bilk, like all these old instrumentals they have been used in countless adverts, TV shows and films so they become huge sellers that they often are up there with the most played songs around. There aren't that many clarinet lead tunes but this one is the benchmark all others are judged by. Not sure why it's called 'Stranger On The Shore' but I can certainly picture relaxing at the sea edge whilst this is wafting around in the background.

Favourite lyric : Bu Bar, Dee Bar