As a callow youth I listened enthralled in the stalls at a packed Newcastle Empire as American rocker Eddie Cochran belted out super song after super song with a shuffle and a shrug.
The concert was in March of 1960. Less than a month later Cochran was dead, killed in a car crash at the age of 21 on the final leg of his British tour. Just before he came among us Eddie had recorded 'Three Steps To Heaven' and the title coupled with his tragic death meant it posthumously soared to No 1 in the charts as we bought it in our droves.
The song has remained embedded in my memory. I can hear it now. Three Steps To Heaven. A classic made even more unforgettable by the dripping drama that engulfed it.
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As we Geordies meander through the summer months waiting for more transfer action to grip us the whole epic experience of Cochran's Newcastle gig suddenly popped into an idle mind again. Why? I dunno, perhaps because in many ways we are taking three steps to our own heaven under Amanda, Eddie et al. It feels like it anyway.
Certainly United are shooting for glorious achievement with a policy deliberately based on three distinct levels not just one. No good showing off colourful finery if there is nothing underneath to sustain body and soul.
Each step of the three is carefully planned. First and foremost the major recruitment has to be for the senior team. Sandro Tonali is the latest big dosh import to go with Bruno, Kieran Tripper, Sven Botman, Nick Pope and Alexander Isak. More will unquestionably follow sooner rather than later.
Level two is those almost ready for the first-team squad but not quite so are immediately loaned out to gain invaluable experience with an eye on the near future. Garang Kuol who went to Hearts last season and Yankuba Minteh to Feyenoord this summer.
Finally it comes down to putting in solid foundations which had been criminally ignored by the previous owner. A dearth of genuine talent at every age group level had reflected in embarrassing results and, worse still, only a trickle of help arriving in the first team to save millions of pounds.
However United have really invested at this level of recent times with the likes of Alex Murphy (Galway United), Charlie McArthur (Kilmarnock) Jude Smith (East Fife), Reece Byrne (Bohemians) and Jordon Hackett (Spurs).
Of course the public's gaze is very much at the top level with Champions League football as well as the Premier League and domestic cups to address starting next month. We want the strongest squad possible for the stern challenge ahead and that means more big signings like Tonali.
However only the short sighted would fail to address the whole picture and United have no need to go to Specsavers. Not this United anyway.
While we await further top of the range newcomers some of the old brigade have taken advantage of admirable generosity to extend their stay by another year. Loris Karius and Paul Dummett have joined Matt Ritchie and Mark Gillespie in taking a further 12 months of Geordie employment.
All four could easily have been jettisoned given that none of them will seriously press for a regular starting place in a side competing at the elite end in the PL and Champions League.
However it is strength in depth as well as dressing-room leadership that has provided them with a lifeline. Football is no longer an 11-man game or even a 14-man match day squad it is about 25 players which is an awful lot and requires back up that is happy to sit on the periphery with the very occasional call to arms usually off the subs bench.
Karius signing on again rids United of their keeper problem. It allows Howe to complete his line up which in order of preference now reads Nick Pope, Martin Dubravka, Karius, and Gillespie with Karl Darlow available to be sold to one of his many admirers.
Where exactly Ritchie deputises is another matter. However Howe rewards loyalty unless a player is desperate for first-team football and therefore is keen to move on. Perceived disloyalty is not tolerated. See Ryan Fraser.
Ritchie is the epitome of a team player and was so at Bournemouth under Howe so he perfectly fits the identikit picture regardless of his outburst against the previous manager Steve Bruce back in the dark days of slapdash and frustration where avoiding relegation was the height of ambition. Of perhaps because he railed against what he saw as falling standards is precisely why he fits!
