Jeans On by David Dundas
"You and me we'll go motorbike ridin' / In the sun and the wind and the rain"
In August 1976 I wouldn't have dreamed of owning up to liking this cheesy pop song – I was into Neil Young and Led Zeppelin at the time – but it perfectly encapsulated the carefree optimism of those hot 70s summers. I was in love for the first time, and my boyfriend and I took off on a road trip on his motorbike, Lulabelle, for our first holiday together. We camped in farmers' fields, later forging stamps on our youth hostel cards to appease my strict parents.
We travelled round the Lake District, roads stretching ahead full of the possibilities and promises of youth. It was a forever-in-blue-jeans time, and Jeans On was a simple feelgood song, which celebrated that moment in our lives when nothing mattered but love, laughter and a cold beer. As I rode pillion with the boy I loved, I sang it into the wind just for the joy of it.When the rain came in the autumn, we would spend the evenings drinking endless tea in our local bikers' cafe. We hid in the red leatherette booth in the back corner so that my parents wouldn't see us if they drove by.
Cigarette smoke mingled with the smell of oil and damp leather, and we fed the jukebox with 5p pieces, and listened to Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Moody Blues.
Looking back with rose-tinted goggles, the teenage angst and doubt is forgotten, and all the memories are of the fierce strength of that first love, and our lives stretching ahead like one long road trip.I never owned a copy of Jeans On – although my boyfriend did at the time – but on the rare occasions that I hear it played on the radio I immediately turn up the volume and sing along, transported back to my teenage years of eternal sunshine and the open road.
Copyright: M Huggins 2011
