31. You Spin Me Round – Dead or Alive

This was another Barters’ house song, but Graham always took the lead vocals. It was a huge surprise to us all when he announced he was gay, obviously.

The funniest thing about that is that when we moved to Doonside and I went to school for the first time, in Year 5, at lunch time I saw him sitting there under a tree by himself I asked someone who he was and was told “that’s Graham: he’s a poof.” No idea how anyone knew what that meant at that age, but more baffling again was being told not to be his friend, because that would make me “a poof by proxy”. It was a high attainment school, I’m sure you can tell.

So naturally we became mates, I was a PbP, and I’m not sure I cared much even then. I guess the first sign was a few years later, when his girlfriend cried on my shoulder that she couldn’t understand why he wasn’t interested in her, and tried to kiss me: loyally (and no doubt stupidly) I took off and told him next time I saw him, when he said “you should have kissed her back.” It wasn’t long before he came out.

But this song, the unparalleled joy of it, the sheer pleasure of shouting “I want you looooooooove!”, that never grows old.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGNiXGX2nLU