Throughout the year there are celebratory days, some personal others national or even international. Each evoke their own emotions depending on the context in which they occur. Sunday the 18th of June is one such day, it’s Father’s Day.

For Claire and me, it is a bittersweet day as both our dads died some years ago. Recently in sharing memories we talked about the music that reminded us of them.

For Claire it’s hearing Marty Robbins singing El Paso and for me it’s Luther Vandross singing Dance with your father.

Claire’s dad loved a wide range of music, but he was a true fan of Marty Robbins and El Paso was his favourite song. He would often be heard singing along to this song on the record player while doing things around the house. Claire says, “I can clearly see him peeling and chopping vegetables at the kitchen sink and hear him singing El Paso as it played in the sitting room. It is the first song on my Spotify list because it absolutely reminds me of my dad and has the power to take me back to so many lovely memories.”

For me, it’s not that dad or I were great fans of Luther, nor did we purposefully listen to him together or even dance to the song together. No, it’s that ‘Dance with your father’ evokes a moment nearly sixty years ago, when as a very young child, mum and dad with me squashed between them waltzed around Blackpool Tower Ballroom. We were laughing along with those around us. It was so exciting, colours flashed by as we spun to the music and dad’s powerful arms wrapped around mum with me at their centre. Magical in so many ways.

“Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.” Aretha Franklin

So, for all the dads, wherever they may be, let’s use the power of music to bring us together, to speak to us when words fail and to have some fun. If you would like to share your dad’s favourite music or song, or a tune that is linked to a memory of him join us on our Facebook page