During one of the Proms this year I turned on the radio (well started it on an app on my phone, to be precise) and it was the early stages of Ravel’s Bolero. This was the piece that Torvill and Dean won their Olympic skating gold with. I was immediately drawn into the music with its distinctive repeating pattern on the snare drum and the main melody which gets dressed up in many different ways. Over time the music builds and builds. Then there are the blaring trombones, swoops late on followed shortly after by what sounds like everything coming crashing down in conclusion – as if the dancers simply can’t continue any longer. It has a sort of mesmerising effect that meant I had to listen right to the end. The thing is, though, that I don’t like Ravel’s Bolero. And as I listened to it I kept confirming to myself that I didn’t like the piece. Yet I couldn’t stop listening to it. So, I wonder, does anyone else have a piece of music that they don’t really like but can’t help listening to when they hear it? And while we are at, what about the tunes that get stuck in your head and you can’t get them out? I think the worst one of these for me is second section of the Birdie Song…..what about you? Feel free to comment below. Arghhh, the middle section of the Birdie song is playing in my head… Wes Carroll