Soundtrack Of My Life

"Money, Money, Money" - ABBA

I'm going to start off on a bit of a downer. When you have a song that has negative connotations for you, it's amazing how often it turns up like a bad penny. It may seem a bit dramatic, but this one can actually cause me flashbacks to one of the worst moments of my youth, and I hate inadvertently encountering it. But as I regularly listen to nostalgia radio channels, it's just something I have to deal with.

When I was a teenage boy, I was bullied for (among other things) being overweight, and one gang in a moment of extreme sadism decided to get me a girdle. Not one for men, but straight out of the corsetry department of a nearby store. Once I'd been forced into it and photographed, I was threatened with exposure and public humiliation if I didn't agree to wear it daily from then on.

After an excruciating day at school in my controlling new shapewear, I'd had a sleepless night as I considered my options. As the moment approached where I would have to get up and get dressed, I realised that I couldn't face the public humiliation and so I was going to have to comply with their demands.

Every weekday morning the radio would be playing downstairs. I'd been trying to work up the courage to dress for school and I was running late, and my Mum was shouting up the stairs for me to come down for breakfast. So, sick to the pit of my stomach and with the tears running down my cheeks, I pulled on my panty girdle and then put on my school uniform, and all the while ABBA were serenading me with "Money, Money, Money".

Ever since, just hearing that song takes me right back to that moment.