“GUESS WHO” – by Des Kelly

Another Kelly-Klassic. Reminded me so much of someone who once stood on stages, both in Lanka and Australia and sang his heart out, for anyone who would listen. Yes folks,

it was ‘your’s truly’. I was well-known as a singer/guitarist in Ceylon (then), for nigh on twenty years, hardly ever seen without an old acoustic guitar, slung around my shoulders,

singing songs whenever and wherever I was needed, never worrying about the money I could have earned, simply because money (in Showbiz), never did mean very much to me. My “payment” was in the applause I received from audiences both large and small. However, music gained me many ‘lurks’, not afforded others. Lurks such as Shore-leave granted me, whenever the Officers of the Royal Ceylon Navy in which I served, were instructed by the Captain of the Navy, Rear Admiral Royce de Mel, to permit me to leave the Barracks in Colombo, for entertainment purposes, even granting me use of R.Cy.N private vehicles (with driver), to attend rehearsals etc., for radio shows I was booked for.

In the Navy, I was known as the ‘Singing-Sailor’.

Strangely, the Kelly- Klassic I have chosen was also a song that I have sung many times, and is also one that I enjoy very much. Sincerely hope that our e’Lanka menbers enjoy it too.

Desmond Kelly.

(Editor-in-Chief) eLanka