My first senior school disco was an unforgettable experience. I pushed open the swing doors feeling a strange blend of ignorance, excitement and terror. There I was wearing something suitably 1970�s like cords (probably brown) and perhaps even a cheesecloth shirt. I probably still had some puppy fat. The great event started in the dining hall at about 7pm with lots of shuffling about and wondering what the hell people liked discos for anyway. And then�

And then�

�Ahhh, freak out, le freak, say chic��

After a couple of bars of this piece of 1970�s classical music my life changed for good. I didn�t realise it right away but things would never be the same again. The lights seemed to shine brighter, I started to dance in time, my arms were moving, my wedge shoes were doing something new � and this was all just music, nothing more stimulating than kia-ora was consumed.

As the shuffling turned into wild abandon (at least on the inside), I suddenly realised why this disco thing could be fun. The repetition of that �freak� word seemed to strike the right chord and off I went straight to hedonism as a way of life. I was only about 11 but I was won over well and truly to the disco beat and the lure of the dancefloor. I might as well have said right then and there � �Good-bye innocence, hello drug-fuelled all night parties�. It all went on for some years. A few too many years perhaps.

But back to the song - what was so special about �Le freak�? How did it make such a mark on my memory? Maybe it was some of the older pupils grooving professionally in Wrangler at the other end of the hall. They looked like they were having the time of their lives � much more fun than musical bumps or homework. Maybe it was the persuasive lyrics (�feel the rhythm, chant the rhyme�, �big fun, to be had everyone�, �just one try and you too will be sold.�) But most of all it was the hard work put in by disco masters Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (who wrote and produced this and were also responsible for all the best Sister Sledge tunes of the time). They made disco with funk as its core � nothing screechy or silly or throwaway. I put �Le freak� on now and I still groove about the room � even at 3 o�clock on a Tuesday just before school pick-up, even after I have really left disco madness and big fun far, far behind. But didn�t they say �young and old are doing it I�m told�. And so we are, my friends, so we are�Altogether now,

�Ahh, freak out��

© 2006 Laura Hird All rights reserved.