CAIRO - And as usual I will share with you another personal story. More than three years ago I wrote an article and received an email from a reader who had some comments so I replied, then we spoke over the phone, met at the Cairo Opera House and since then we've become inseparable friends. She is more like a real mother to me and her name is Lady Molly Aly. She introduced me to her brilliant husband Ambassador Ezz El Dean Scharaff, Former Assistant Foreign Minister. In a very short time he was like my mentor. I felt so lucky to be close to this exceptional couple. Less than two years later he passed away. On Saturday, the 15th of October, Lady Molly arranged for a tribute at the Egyptian Diplomatic Club, downtown. This event was in memory of her late and great husband and as she stood behind a podium she spoke about him then read a part of the book he was planning to write. It was more like very interesting memoires about his diplomatic career and covered a part of the 1960s. Lady Molly didn't just read but also portrayed some of the characters mentioned in the memoires. Then we enjoyed words from distinguished guest speakers – close family members and dear friends. That included a very moving speech from the ambassador's daughter Heba and a rather funny one from her husband Omar, who chose to end the proceeding with the late and great Ambassador Scharaff's favorite song – Frank Sinatra's “My Way”. Despite finding the inclusion of a song in such an event kind of strange, I realised that it was a brilliant idea. As food was served, a slide show of the ambassador's photos was displayed on a big screen. Watching those pictures distracted me and made me eat fish and artichokes. Usually I never eat them but I suddenly found them on my plate and was too embarrassed to say anything! I of course had to wear a suit as well but I was trying to cheer myself up by thinking “yeah rock ‘n roll” all the time! I have to say that I enjoyed the evening very much – distinguished guests, elegant place, excellent service, delicious food and… ICE CREAM. Regardless of the way it is carried out, a tribute is a tribute and this of course reminded me of many great songs that were made by legendary artists as tributes to their dear departed ones. When Beatle John Lennon was shot dead for no reason whatsoever, the three surviving members got together and recorded a song that was released as a George Harrison solo single. How come Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr didn't get any credit for it? They did because Paul provided harmony vocals and Ringo played the drums on that track that was written and sung by George, who of course also played the guitar on it. This number is called “All those Years Ago” and was released in 1981, few months after John was killed in December 1980. Of course it was very impressive to see the three remaining Beatles working together again 11 years after they split. On the other hand, Paul made a solo song for John called “Here Today”. It is a fact that the two of them wrote together most of the countless Beatles songs and it made a lot of sense that a gifted songwriter like Paul wrote a special number for his fellow Beatle and good friend. Elton John too was a personal friend of John, so he made him a tribute song and called it “Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)”. As you can see from the title, Elton made it a personal track. There is a bar that goes “Johnny, can't you come out to play in your empty garden” and the garden here is meant to be Madison Square Garden, where John and Elton played together before. Years earlier, in 1974 to be precise, Elton had a big hit with “Candle in the Wind”, which was his tribute to the exceptionally gorgeous Marilyn Monroe. If she were alive she would have been 85 this year. If only I were a few decades older… Years later the same song with the same melody were used after adding different lyrics to them and this time the song was called “Candle in the Wind ‘97”. The new version was Elton's tribute to Diana, the Princess of Wales after she died in that famous car crash. This number broke all records by becoming the biggest selling single of all time, surpassing the previous record holder – Bing Crosby's “White Christmas”. Something else connects Elton with the Beatles – this version of his song was produced by Sir George Martin, who was also the Beatles producer. In one word… “WOW”. Great singer/songwriter Andy Gibb died in March 1988 and his three famous brothers made a tribute song to commemorate his life. Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb – better known as the Bee Gees – happen to be among the world's top songwriters and performers of course, so making a song is very easy in that case… but it must have been hard to write a number for their deceased young sibling. Incidentally, that song is called “Wish You Were Here”. Another song that is associated with the Bee Gees and their young brother and was also somehow used as a tribute to him is the classic “Our Love Don't Throw It All Away”. This number was written and recorded by the trio and Andy made a cover of it, which sounds so much like the original but then again they had similar voices. In more than one of their concerts the Bee Gees performed this song and dedicated it to Andy. At least once, during the 1998 “One Night Only” superb concert they used Andy's recorded voice and sang along on some parts. There was a huge screen at the back with footage of Andy. That was a very moving experience. So far we have been focusing on songs made by British artists. What about Americans? They've contributed with a considerable share of course and one of them was Diana Ross who paid tribute to her old friend Marvin Gaye, whom she sang with a few tunes before he was killed by his own father. Diana's appropriately titled 1985 tribute song “Missing You” is a very moving one. In the same year Marvin was also mentioned in the Commodores hit “Nightshift”, which also mentioned great American singer Jackie Wilson, who died in 1984 just like Marvin, who probably didn't like ice cream. So send me all the ice cream to: [email protected]
