It was 1970 and I had been working at Woolworths in the Seven Hills shopping centre as a Saturday morning box boy and saving my morning pay and the 5, 10 or 20 cent tips that people gave me for packing and carrying their groceries to their car.
At the time, on ABC radio on a Sunday, there was a show which played new release singles. I had been listening to it since 1968 and heard material from Hendrix, The Who, Joplin, Steppenwolf, Doors…, you get the idea.
One Sunday as I was listening, a song was played that was like no other.
There was a mesmerising swirl of flute and, to my ears, what followed sounded like a medieval tune with matching lyrics about a witch played on electric instruments.
I was hooked.
Back in the day, the only place to source a piece of vinyl in Seven Hills was at the “Personal Electric Record Bar’ located in the shopping centre, near Woolworths.
On Monday afternoon after school had finished, I high-tailed down to the shopping centre.
I entered and asked if they had the single, “The Witch’s Promise” by Jethro Tull. I was hoping to buy a copy, that day. The guy behind the counter looked at me like I was a bit unusual.
“I’ll look in the new releases booklet that’s just arrived.” With that he bent down to below the counter, lifted a booklet of several foolscap sheets staple in the corner and began to thumb through until he came across the listing.
“Found it. Do you want me to order a copy?”
“That’d be great.”
With that I handed over my $1 note.
“It’ll be a week or so. Check back next week.”
I left the shop feeling great. I was going to own my first ever piece of vinyl.
All I needed, now, was to either convince mum and dad to buy a stereo or save and buy one myself.
I ended up buying my own AWA stereo but until then, it accompanied me to mate’s places and parties.
I missed the first Tull tour to Australia but managed to see them evolve and grow through every tour after that.
Love all my vinyl and especially all my Tull vinyl.
