DD was on holiday from work this week, and one of the things she did was head through to Aberdeen to watch Maisie Peters perform in a small intimate venue. I’ve noticed her Maisie album on the shelves but can’t say I knew anything about her, until now. Turns out Maisie is a 25-year-old British singer-songwriter who has been around since 2017, and in 2021 she signed to Ed Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man Records. Her two albums have done really well but so far her singles have only reached the lower reaches of the charts which is why I probably didn’t know about her. On the way home from the concert DD sent us a clip showing Maisie on stage singing her song, My Regards, which I did recognise because of this line: “He took me off the market and I took him to the moon”. I’ve definitely heard that line on the radio as I thought it was quite funny.
Maisie felt she had not ventured into her tongue-in-cheek style of writing prior to this song and was inspired by country music classics about standing by your partner. The music video for the song, starring Maisie and Benito Skinner as love interests, modernised the narrative, and rather than portraying herself as a “simpering love interest” she showed it from the perspective of a fierce woman protecting her romantic partner. She even references the 1992 Kevin Costner/Whitney Houston film The Bodyguard within the lyrics. It seems the song was released as a single in February this year but only reached the No. 98 spot for one week. Don’t understand that at all but I wish her well for the future.
For those of you following my updates on what is currently at the top of the UK Singles Chart, I am going to sound like a broken record. Yes, for the 10th non-consecutive week, the Sam Fender/Olivia Dean song Rein Me In is at the top spot. Back in the day lengthy stays at the top of the charts just didn’t happen often, but because of the way we now consume music it is becoming more common.
Anyway, the reason Sam’s song dropped to the No. 2 spot twice in the last 12 weeks was first because of a Harry Styles release, and secondly because Olivia Rodrigo’s new song Drop Dead got to No. 1. Unlike with Maisie, I am fully aware of Olivia Rodrigo and fell in love with her song drivers licence (all lower case) after she performed it at the Brit Awards a few years ago. It is a pop power-ballad containing poignant lyrics detailing heartache. It has also been described as coming from the bedroom pop camp, which is a new one on me but a term I totally get. The narrator is young, probably still school age, and as we all know first loves at that stage in life can be terribly intense. You hold nothing back as you really do think it will last forever, only to find yourself broken-hearted down the line (not that I know of anyone who has had that happen to them of course). It was one of 2021’s most successful songs, and launched Olivia’s career. I would urge you to listen to the lyrics – pretty heart-breaking, whatever your age.
Drivers license broke a string of records, including the record for the most first-week streams for a song on Spotify and Amazon Music. It also topped the US Billboard Hot 100 and made Olivia the youngest artist ever to debut atop the chart. It spent eight consecutive weeks at number one.
The last lady I want to feature today is Irish singer Máire Brennan (latterly Moya Brennan), best known as the lead singer of Grammy and Bafta-winning group Clannad. She sadly passed away recently at the relatively young age (from my perspective anyway) of 73.
The Celtic folk singer, songwriter and harpist from the Irish-speaking Donegal area of the Republic, recorded 25 albums and sold millions of records worldwide, coming to prominence as part of her family’s band which formed in 1970, and later included Máire’s younger sister, Enya. The group became one of the world’s most popular traditional Irish acts after finding mainstream success with the theme tunes for the TV series, Harry’s Game, as well as Robin of Sherwood. I recently wrote about our own Scottish Celtic band Runrig, who were the first to perform on Top Of The Pops in Gaelic. Clannad became the first band to sing in Irish when they performed the Theme from Harry’s Game in 1982.
The late 1980s and the 1990s were a fertile period for Celtic music with many Scottish and Irish bands finding success. It was also the period when Ireland always seem to win the Eurovision Song Contest, and we were all hopping across The Irish Sea to Dublin for city breaks. Then there was the phenomenon that was Riverdance which started out as a seven-minute bit of interval entertainment at Eurovision, but wowed the audience more than the actual songs. Wonder if all that had anything to do with Clannad?
Until next time, RIP Máire/Moya Brennan
drivers license Lyrics
(Song by Olivia Rodrigo/Dan Nigro)
I got my driver’s license last week
Just like we always talked about
‘Cause you were so excited for me
To finally drive up to your house
But today I drove through the suburbs
Crying ’cause you weren’t around
And you’re probably with that blonde girl
Who always made me doubt
She’s so much older than me
She’s everything I’m insecure about
Yeah, today I drove through the suburbs
‘Cause how could I ever love someone else?
And I know we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this way for no one
And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay now that I’m gone
Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me
‘Cause you said forever now I drive alone past your street
And all my friends are tired
Of hearing how much I miss you but
I kinda feel sorry for them
‘Cause they’ll never know you the way that I do
Yeah, today I drove through the suburbs
And pictured I was driving home to you
And I know we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this way for no one
Oh, and I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay now that I’m gone
I guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me
‘Cause you said forever now I drive alone past your street
Red lights
Stop signs
I still see your face
In the white cars
Front yards
Can’t drive past the places
We used to
Go to
‘Cause I still fucking love you, babe
Sidewalks
We crossed
I still hear your voice
In the traffic
We’re laughing
Over all the noise
God, I’m so blue
Know we’re through
But I still fucking love you, babe
I know we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this way for no one
And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay now that I’m gone
Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me
‘Cause you said forever now I drive alone past your street
Yeah, you said forever now I drive alone past your street
What's It All About? 