ICONOCLAST

Citroëns, music and left-handedness 

I have been corresponding on the Internet with a Citroën enthusiast in Manitoba, Canada and something he said triggered the following. He confessed to being an organ player in his local church. I observed that playing music and being a Citroën aficionado seem to go hand in hand and he replied that he recalled reading something to this effect in the Citroënian several years ago (he used to be a member but let his membership lapse - I e-mailed him details of how to rejoin). I must admit I don't recall any such article - maybe it was published during the hiatus in my membership when I ran a Visa. If such an article was indeed published, please let me have a photocopy. Assuming that no such article has been published, here are my observations. I work with Graham "SeMantics" Lane who is a bass player, as is Keith Wilshere. I am a guitar player. My Father who used to be a member and who still runs Citroëns used to be a trumpeter. It would be rather interesting to discover what percentage of our members are musicians or, for that matter, lovers of music. Inundate me with details. 

If it should prove to be that there is some link, the question is, why? I shall now hypothesise that many Citroëns are works of art - the DS springs to mind but other models such as the 2CV are also aesthetically pleasing (just examine the curvature of the front wing - caress it and you will derive a tactile pleasure similar to the visual one). The Xantia too is endowed with a similar tactile and visual appeal. Even the Ami 6 is a candidate - look at the curvature of the leading edge of the bonnet. 

Those cars that seem to lack this je ne sais quoi are, in my opinion the AX and ZX - vehicles designed to be sold in a highly competitive marketplace where conservatism and perceived value are more important than flair and aesthetics. Perhaps it is because these cars we love are designed by people rather than computers: people with a passion (if that word is not too emotional for us Anglo Saxons). In the case of the DS, it was designed by an architect and as we all know, it bears little relationship to anything else on the road. Music appeals to the right hemisphere of the brain which is also responsible for the appreciation of the arts, the sense of aesthetics, lateral thinking, emotions, language, etc. Aren't Citroëns manifestations of lateral thinking? 

As a southpaw, I was astonished to discover that while left-handers comprise approximately 10% of the population, some 30% of musicians are left-handed . How many of you are left-handed I wonder? How many of you are left-handed musicians? Were any of Citroën's design team left-handed? Final musing on this subject (unless you provide me with further food for thought) is that left-handers are the only ones in their right minds.

© 1995 Julian Marsh