Minor hiccups (and delays) notwithstanding, I made it to the rendezvous with 5 minutes to spare. The ride was good - the weather prediction was of short spells of heavy-ish rain, followed by high winds, but instead for the first phase of the ride there was neither - it wasn't even as chilly as expected.
In fact, the sun was so strong, this was the first Saturday ride when the sun was so low it was getting into my eyes (a reminder that winter is coming!), forcing me to tilt my head forward when riding to let the top rim of my sunglasses cut out the glare of the sun - even at 11am!
The "observed" part of the ride ended at our planned destination, Avoca at Newcastle. We were the second pair of observed riders to arrive, and we completed the debrief outside the restaurant, at our bikes, before heading inside.
As we entered inside, a song kicked in on the PA/ambient music system of the restaurant.
A song I didn't know the title of, or even most of the words - only the refrain: "It's just the sun rising, it's shining". It was a song from a mixtape I grew up with, titled - "Disco hits 1989-90"
The whole experience of the sun in my eyes through most of the morning ride kinda engulfed me.
After brunch at Avoca, we headed on for the next leg of the ride - when the predicted weather actually caught us, with a 2 minute shower, which cleared up as quickly as it arrived, and finally a single gust of crosswind when we passed newtonards on the way to crawfordsburn - a gust so strong it actually blew my magnetic tank bag off the tank and onto my right arm - thankfully it was on a straight stretch so I was able to pop it back into position and ride on without as much as slowing down.
The song was playing on loop on my head all afternoon, and the first thing I did when I got home was to try and look for it. First on my phone - where I was surprised it didn't exist. Which meant the last time I had heard the song was on that cassette - so at least 39 years ago! I tried duckduckgo's search, google's search, youtube's search, and finally as a last resort, google gemini. It took FOUR prompts for Gemini to get it, but given my past experience and every search engine leading me to Bob Marley's Sun is Shining, that's still a marked improvement!
- "A song with the main line "the sun is shining it's rising" from the late 80s/early 90s"
- "No, it's not Baker Street"
- "Male vocals with a female voice making some unintelligible rhythmic sounds"
- "Definitely nothing to do with Bob Marley"
And... bingo!
Liked, saved to playlist, and cast to the music system on loop on full blast for the next 2 hours until we left for dinner (coincidentally, about 3/4th of the way to our friend's place at banbridge was common with my morning ride!).
Now that I think back to that mixtape, some of its songs seem to be following it around! It was literally the previous day (Friday evening!) that another one of the songs from the cassette played in Home Bargains when I was picking up bird food. Can't remember which song, because now that "The Sun Rising" is looping in my head (and right now, on youtube!) I can't think back. Was it "Chocolate Box"? "Walking on Thin Ice"? I can't say now, It could have been something different altogether. That cassette was never in my top 10, nor was this song among my favourites from it. I know my favourites were towards the end of side B, and this was near the middle of side B. Weird.
Interestingly, Gemini's response once I confirmed it had got the right song felt spot on:
That is such a classic! "Sun Rising" by The Beloved (released in 1989 on their album Happiness) is widely regarded as one of the defining tracks of the late-80s acid house and ambient dance scene.
About the Track
The Sound: Driven by Jon Marsh's smooth, chilled-out male vocals and backed by that famous looped female vocal sample. The rhythmic female sound in the background was sampled from a recording of 11th-century composer Hildegard von Bingen, performed by the early music group Gothic Voices (specifically soprano Emily Van Evera).
The Meaning: The song captures the blissed-out, serene feeling of watching the dawn break after an all-night rave or night out, celebrating warmth, light, and new beginnings.
"The sun rising on a beautiful day
The sun rising on a beautiful day..."
— The Beloved ("Sun Rising", 1989)