Making the casserole at lunch time today, I got fed up with the news and current affairs diet on the radio, so decided something musical would be more edifying.

Something very laid back and mellow, I thought, so out came a Stylistics CD, a collection of their hits from the early 1970s, the sort of thing that makes my daughter cringe.

The favourite track for me was from 1973, Peek- a-boo, a very gentle song about a young man’s devotion to his beloved.How many of us have tried to engineer chance meetings with those we have found attractive?How many times have we waited in certain places at certain times in the hope that they might pass by?How many times have we pretended that it was sheer coincidence that we were somewhere when the other person happened to come along?

Only when I listened to the lyrics today did I for the first time realize that what counted as loving devotion in 1973 would be interpreted as stalking in 2006.

“Every single day
As you pass this way
I know just what to say
But I can’t find
The words to tell you
Each and every day
My love grows and grows
More than before
So maybe, I’ll just say

Oh, Oh! Peek-A-Boo!
Guess who’s watching you
Oh, Oh! Peek-A-Boo!
Guess who’s loving you
Oh, Oh! Peek-A-Boo!
Guess who’s watching you

Can’t you realize
As you pass me by
the love that’s in my heart
So what’s keeping us apart
Even though I know
I will win your heart
I’ll wait just one more day
Just to see you

I’ll wait just
One more day
Just to see you!�

Has the world become a much badder place? Or were we all terribly innocent?