the only section i remember most vividly was the loving description of the extended cradling of his balls

it was very entirely awesome and i still have it somewhere to dig out if you need to know more

*he was then in his mid-40s

With Iglesias I recognised even then that there was something slightly naff and outdated about the whole enterprise – the record’s popularity was again ascribable to Terry Wogan on Radio 2, who very heftily pushed it as a G**lty Pl**s*r*. Much questionable comment was made about my liking for the record by certain of my student colleagues, and given its proximity on my singles shelves to things like “Release The Bats” and “Sorry For Laughing,” no secret was kept of their overall raised eyebrow towards me.

However, I can qualify my love of the record in three main ways. Firstly, November 1981 was a generally dank and gloomy month; I was not yet quite settled in my new home, was still very uncertain about a lot of important things. Two of my big albums from that first term were OMD’s Architecture And Morality and New Order’s Movement, both of which bore the undiluted tears of mourning for Ian Curtis (which in its own indie way was far more prolonged than the mourning for Lennon). So “Begin The Beguine” was much-required light relief (as in its unequalled way was Dare); it made me feel good, reassured and happy with its determined brightness.

Secondly, “Begin The Beguine” is one of those rare songs which I believe impossible to interpret badly. Whether it is Artie Shaw’s courtly original, or Joe Loss’ note-for-note remake, which remains my favourite because of the teasing and sensual lead vocal of the great Chick Henderson, or Sammy Davis Jr deconstructing it in the early sixties to a drumbeat alone, Cole Porter’s innate genius shines through resplendent. And so it is with Julio’s reading. If the record, with its chunky guitar comping, excitable trumpet section (some crossover with Westbrook’s Metropolis here) and keen syndrums, did sound a little passe initially, that is because it was actually recorded in 1978. But for me Ramon Arcusa’s arrangement remains sublime and a million asteroids away from tack.

Thirdly, it is a genuine reinterpretation of, and reflection on, the Porter song. Nearly all of the lyric is in Spanish and was written by Iglesias himself, and despite the record’s cheerful demeanour, the lyric, from what I can decipher with my imperfect Spanish, is all about the end of an affair; Julio looking back with regret on his lost love, recalling how it all began, wanting so badly to rekindle that original spirited light (“volver a empezar” means literally “to go back to the beginning”). Thus its sentiments combine perfectly with the music, which seems to ask Iglesias not to give up hope, or life. I doubt whether the millions of ladies who immediately swooned at his immaculately besuited and booted feet noticed any of this, but it doesn’t really matter; the aura is glorious, the sunrise a foregone conclusion, the pop shining and wonderful.

Not wanting to stray into Noel Edmonds’ misheard lyric territory, but as a mono-lingual teen I did think the second line of this was “kemo-sabe” .

I didn’t like this enough to buy it at the time and it’s a while since I heard it, but Iglesias’ lightness of touch was pleasant, as was the arrangement. He was very well known on the Continent – I’d bought other Iglesias records during a stint in France a couple of years previously, but gave this one a miss. Five or maybe six is about right – it’s an agreeable record, but that’s all.

Will no15: I was just going to type that I didnt remember any snow in the winter of 1981/82 in the South East and was racking my brains and for the first time since well I suppose 1981/82 remembered me and a friend getting pissed on Woodpecker cider (well we about 15 or 16) on the way home from town in the snow one Saturday dinnertime after the buses stopped running – actually now I remember how unpleasant it was trying to drink cheap cider in a blizzard with numb lips – needless to say in all the subsequent years it remains unrepeated)

Of course, I hated it at the time, for the usual snobby 19-year old reasons. With the era of New Pop now upon us, it felt more and more as if “my lot” were taking over – same generation, same outlook, same values – and I totally bought into their “we’re subverting pop from within” line (as yet unaware that “my lot” were as capable of selling out as any other lot). Fired up by this shiny-faced optimism (plus a certain degree of residual punk-derived absolutism), I felt there was no place for the likes of Julio in my Brave New Tomorrow.

(And by April or May 1982, when the New Pop Tribe had more or less taken over the entire Top 40, it seemed as if my wish had been granted…)

As for drizzly autumn, I think that’s a bit wide of the mark for this song. It was, I think, during it’s reign that I worked late in an office in Bar Hill, near Cambridge, and found when I was done that I couldn’t get out of that hell hole whose only access to the outside world was a slip road to the A604, because snow had fallen snow on snow during the course of the evening. So – and not for the first time – I found myself bunking down on a sofa in the office for the night. (It should be noted by the way that by 9 am the following day the ploughs had been out and all major roads were clear so that all my colleagues could get in. Not that I’m trying to make any points about the current situation. Oh no!) The snow stayed, however, and it was bloody cold for about two months. I have a photograph somewhere of me standing in the middle of the frozen Cam adjacent to Midsummer Common, thus proving conclusively that I really can walk on water. It was odd how so many Cambridge students were found to be in possession of skates though.

His voice is wonderful, “nobility masking a brooding passion” is spot on: the ease with which he guides the melody over the frenetic OTT backing is so seductive. A 7 for me for the vocal and song, but I could reeeeally do without the syndrums!

Isn’t there a Bigas Luna film in which the brooding, passionate male lead is obsessed with Julio? Thought it was Golden Balls but imdb doesn’t confirm it.

ASPEL & COMPANY: with John Cleese, Norman Tebbit, Julio Iglesias (1988)

BOB HOPE’S BIRTHDAY PARTY: with Ray Alan, Rowan Atkinson, Marti Caine, Chevy Chase, Phyllis Diller, Duran Duran, Charlton Heston, Julio Iglesias, Ben Kingsley, Spike Milligan (1985)

DES O’CONNOR TONIGHT: with Julio Iglesias, Les Dennis, Five Star (1988)

DES O’CONNOR TONIGHT: with Julio Iglesias, Derek Jameson, Roly Polys, Mariah Carey (1990)

DES O’CONNOR TONIGHT: with Britt Ekland, Hulk Hogan, Bradley Walsh, Sonia, Julio Iglesias (1991)

DES O’CONNOR TONIGHT: with Sylvester Stallone, Jack Dee, Julio Iglesias (1994)

MICHAEL BALL: with Julio Iglesias, Marcella Detroit, Mike Smith (1994)

I think that the 1991 show may be the least appealing line-up for a variety programme that I’ve yet come across

A fucking wonderful record.