There might be something to this birthday song fad...

AGAINST my better judgment, I’m kind of intrigued by this thing on the internet about the No.1 hit on your 14th birthday being the defining song of your life.

Elsewhere in this newspaper the other day, I wrote that the concept was a load of old nonsense clearly dreamt up by some saddo with too much time on his hands. And, yes, that was my considered opinion even before I realised that the

relevant song in my particular case was Renée & Renato’s seasonal charttopper Save Your Love.

But I’ve since delved into it a little further and I am beginning to think there might actually be something to this. Consider the following evidence. Given that I was home alone for the weekend, I took the trouble to check what was at the top of hit parade on the day Leo Varadkar turned 14. It turned out to be Whitney Houston’s version of I Will Always Love You, which I can easily picture the Taoiseach humming to himself as he looks into the shaving mirror of a morning.

The eternally youthful Pat Kenny’s song was The Young Ones, by Cliff Richard. It was Unit Four + Two’s jaunty Concrete And Clay for panto queen Twink, who has of course had her fair share of trouble on the bricks ’n’ mortar front.

The Beatles’ Ticket To Ride was keen cyclist Enda Kenny’s song. But I decided to do some extra research following the announcement that Boyzone are to undertake a farewell tour and release a final single.

Maybe I missed something, but I’d been under the impression they split years ago. Anyway, you’ll never guess what was No.1 when Ronan Keating celebrated his 14th birthday. Amusingly, it was The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go. I think we’ll just leave it at that.