My mum hasn’t featured around here for some time but over the years she has been mentioned on many occasions, first as someone who enjoyed reading my latest blog post when I went to visit her in her retirement flat, and then as someone who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and had to move into a care home. Come Christmastime I always shared some seasonal music for all the generations of my family and my mum invariably got something from the Jim Reeves 12 Songs Of Christmas album. She did like her Jim Reeves.
Sadly, she passed away on Sunday, but thankfully it was quite quick in the end. I’d gone to visit her the day before and realised she was failing, but I was reassured it could take some time. I got a phone call at 6am the following morning to say I should come in to the care home but didn’t quite make it in time. That’s on me, but to be honest I don’t really want to remember her as she was over the last year of her life as it all became a bit grim latterly. I’m not sure who Alzheimer was, but he would have done well to keep his pesky disease to himself.
Looking through photos of her from over the years, I realise I’ve shared quite a few around here, those lovely black and white ones that look so much classier than the high resolution colour shots we now take on our camera phones. I will use some of them for the funeral. I did find something else however from not that long ago, a clip I want to share with you, to give you a sense of the lady. She did like her music, had natural rhythm and loved to dance. Whenever the accordionist came in to the care home she acted as his wingman, getting everyone enthused and choosing the repertoire. I have to smile when I see this.
My mum in better times
As you can imagine I’ve been really busy over the last few days with the admin of death but her funeral service is coming together nicely and I’m quite happy with what we’ve organised so far. I suspected it would be a really small intimate affair but I see the undertaker shared her announcement on his social media page today, as is the custom, and there has been an outpouring of affection for her from all sorts of people I have never heard of – from shopworkers, from cleaners in her flats, from people who met her walking into town and of course from the many care workers in her nursing home. I might have to hire a bigger boat!
I don’t think I can write much more to be honest as I have loads to do and a weekend away to prepare for. Yes, my London trip had been booked for ages and now that we are organised for the funeral in 12 days time, we can allow ourselves some down time. I think I am even going to meet up with some people from my little blogging community whilst in London, which is a bonus, so watch this space.
I shall leave you with some of those black and white photos I mentioned above and one of my mum’s favourite pieces of music, Stranger On The Shore by Acker Bilk.
My jury duty is now over, so back to my routine of posting something new weekly. Little did I think last time, that I would be writing a tribute for one of my favourite actresses of all time, Diane Keaton. With Robert Redford I didn’t really get a shock when I heard of his death, but with Diane Keaton I most certainly did. First of all I hadn’t realised she was as old as she was (79 when she died), as we have kind of grown up together with her film roles often reflecting what my life was like at the time. Also, although she did have more lines on her face as the years went by (as do I), she always seemed to be smiling which gave her a really youthful appearance.
The first film you think of when reflecting on Diane Keaton’s legacy is Annie Hall, the film made in 1977 that was written specifically for her, and in which she starred with Woody Allen. Diane had frequently collaborated with Woody prior to this and had also played Kay Adams in the Godfather films, but I don’t think I had actually seen them at this point so Annie Hall was my first introduction to her, and what an impact she made.
I had gone to see the film in Aberdeen’s Capitol Theatre one Saturday afternoon in 1978 with my best friend of the time. We had recently left school for University, and as we now lived in the big city, we were able to enjoy all that it had to offer. After watching Diane Keaton in Annie Hall we trawled the very few charity and vintage shops that were available at the time, and kitted ourselves out in baggy trousers, shirts and waistcoats. Such apparel would have looked ridiculous in rural Aberdeenshire but now that we were students it fitted our new personas perfectly. Also, despite looking outwardly quite quirky and different, if an older student or lecturer had entered into conversation with me, I would have become a gibbering wreck, not having yet acquired the confidence needed for such encounters. Inside, I was still that girl from a country school. Like Annie, I would have probably gone down the La-di-da, La-di-da route before making an embarrassing exit.
After watching the clip above last Sunday I kept having the song line, “La-di-da-di-da”, swirling around in my head. I couldn’t remember for a start what the song was, and it certainly wasn’t from the film, but it didn’t take long to work out it was Why, a song from 1982 written by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards and performed by Carly Simon.
But back to Diane Keaton. Throughout the rest of the 70s, the 80s and beyond she appeared in many, many films, some with Woody Allen, but as time went by, mostly not. She could tackle the serious roles (Reds) just as easily as the romantic comedy ones (Baby Boom), and I loved her in everything she did. In terms of her style, the clothes had changed in the films she made, as did my style as serious jobs and motherhood had entered my life. And this is when a really special moment happened in my life. In around 2010, DD’s good friend Jamie who was a frequent visitor to our house, sent her a film clip with this message: “Omg, I’ve just been watching this film, and one of the actresses looks just like your mum”. Yes, DD’s friend had likened me to Diane Keaton! Although I knew she was a lot prettier than me, I was very flattered, as she had always been the actress I most wanted to be like in real life.
This was that clip from the 1996 film The First Wives Club. I did wear my glasses a lot more around that time, and my hair was of a similar style and colour, so I can see how he thought of me, but I don’t think he ever realised just how big a compliment he had just paid me.
You Don’t Own Me by The Blow Monkeys:
You Don’t Own Me was a pop song recorded byLesley Gore in 1963, when she was just 17 years old. The song was her second most successful recording and her last top-ten single. It expressed emancipation, as the singer tells a lover she doesn’t want to be held to his hypocritical gender standards, such as not being able to see other men, when he sees other women. The song’s lyrics became an inspiration for younger women and are sometimes cited as a factor in the development of the second wave feminist movement. I don’t have the Lesley Gore version of this song in my library, but I do have this interesting version by The Blow Monkeys, recorded for the film Dirty Dancing which was set in 1963.
My final “Alyson/Diane lead parallel lives” story came about after I watched her in the 2003 film Something’s Gotta Give, with Jack Nicholson. Diane played Erica Barry, a successful writer who lives in a beautiful beach house overlooking the ocean. Although we don’t earn anything from this blogging hobby of ours, I have always been a frustrated writer so it’s a great outlet, also, my dream house would be one by the coast, overlooking the sea. But the big parallel between myself and Erica’s character is that she always wears polo-necks, or turtle-necks as they call them in North America. It’s a standing joke throughout the film, as it is with most of my friends who know that between the months of September and May I only wear cream or black polo-neck jumpers. Between June and August I change into striped T-shirts and shirts, but I never show much flesh.
Having read a lot about Diane since she died last Saturday, it seems her propensity for wearing polo-necks and hats with her quirky outfits in real life, was because she had suffered from recurring bouts of skin cancer, as have I. Not for us the sundresses and skimpy tops of our naturally darker skinned friends, and come September, when I become alabaster white again, I have to add a bit of artificial colour to my face. Having a tanned face but a white neck looks ridiculous, thus the polo-necks. I’ve even managed to source polo-necked evening dresses in the past for posh events!
So, “What’s It All About?” – I am beyond sad that Diane has left us and I hope I have explained in this post just why. She was the actress I most admired and felt close to because of the similarities between us. She will never pop up in anything new again but at least we still have all those great films to revisit time and time again.
RIP Diane Keaton xx
Until next time…
You Don’t Own Me Lyrics (Song by John Madara/Dave White)
You don’t own me I’m not just one of your many toys You don’t own me Don’t say I can’t go with other boys
And don’t tell me what to do Don’t tell me what to say And please, when I go out with you Don’t put me on display ’cause
You don’t own me Don’t try to change me in any way You don’t own me Don’t tie me down ’cause I’d never stay
I don’t tell you what to say I don’t tell you what to do So just let me be myself That’s all I ask of you
I’m young, and I love to be young I’m free, and I love to be free To live my life the way I want To say and do whatever I please
And don’t tell me what to do Oh, don’t tell me what to say And please, when I go out with you Don’t put me on display
I don’t tell you what to say Oh, don’t tell you what to do So just let me be myself That’s all I ask of you
I’m young, and I love to be young I’m free and I love to be free To live my life the way I want To say and do whatever I please
One of the last great actors from Hollywood’s Golden Age left us last week and I’ve had a really enjoyable time reading all the tributes that have been written about him since. He lived to the grand old age of 89 and had achieved so much in his life so it wasn’t one of those really tragic deaths but the natural conclusion to a life well-lived. By all accounts he was a Prince Among Men – a man with great integrity who just happened to be blessed with golden good looks and the skills to be a talented actor and director. He was an environmentalist and a great supporter of independent cinema, setting up the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, helping to foster a new generation of filmmakers.
I became a big fan of both Paul Newman and Robert Redford after watching them in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I wrote about songs from the film in my first year of blogging and looking back it doesn’t seem to have ever been read by anyone, so I’m going to share it again. I have another Redford film to write about that’s also featured around here, but I’ll leave that one until next time.
First published 28th August 2016
When is a song not a song? Why of course when it’s one of those pad a dap a dapadda, doob be doobee doop, pum… pum… pum… padadappada type numbers performed by vocal harmony groups. I read a review this week for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and immediately had those scenes in my head where Butch and Sundance are being chased down by the posse, led by white-hatted Lefors (“Who are those guys?”). It becomes clear they have to flee, and so they head to Bolivia with Sundance’s schoolteacher lover, in search of a more successful criminal career. Throughout the movie we are treated to Burt Bacharach’samazing soundtrack, and when they hit Bolivia, it is the perfect cue for South American Getaway.
South American Getaway by Burt Bacharach:
Now I had always thought that this part of the soundtrack was by The Swingle Singers, that a cappella group that seemed to pop up with great regularity on Saturday night telly in the 1970s, but no, South American Getaway was by the Ron Hicklin Singers, a group of Los Angeles-based studio singers. They are most famously known as being the real backing singers behind The Partridge Family recordings but also worked on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly theme, MacArthur Park and Suicide Is Painless (the theme to the film M*A*S*H). They were the vocal equivalent of (and often worked with) The Wrecking Crew, that bunch of top session musicians who played on many ’60s and ’70s records. They were the house band for Phil Spector but also worked with Sonny & Cher, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas, Frank Sinatra and even Elvis. Getting back to the Ron Hicklin Singers, Ron himself was lead tenor but there was also an alto, a soprano, a bass and a couple of brothers called Bahler, who performed tenor harmonies on South American Getaway.
I was too young to have seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at the cinema in 1969 so would only have seen it a few years later on television, but what an impact it made. The two lead actors, Paul Newman and Robert Redford had amazing on-screen chemistry, and for me, it marked the start of a major crush on both of them. In 1974 Paul Newman starred in The Towering Inferno, one of the many disaster movies around at that time and fortunately I was now old enough to see it at the cinema. The blue-eyed Mr Newman was actually five years older than my dad by that time which seems kind of creepy now but with film stars the whole age thing never seems to matter and even today stars like Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp, who are positively middle-aged, are adored by legions of young female fans around the world.
Around this time it was deemed that my childhood bedroom was in need of redecoration and I was given carte blanche on what the new scheme should be. (Bear with me here, there is a reason for this bit of sidestepping.) Down came the ’60s style wallpaper and the posters of Donny Osmond, David Cassidy and Bjorn Borg, and up went woodchip wallpaper, which could be painted any colour I wanted. After pouring over paint charts for some time I went for an attractive mustard colour which would, I thought, look good with my new brown and orange curtains. Of course paint charts can be notoriously misleading and once my dad had finished the room it was most definitely a khaki green colour as opposed to mustard but hey, I was happy, it being so modern with the woodchip an’ all.
One of the house rules for this newly decorated bedroom was that there were to be fewer posters and certainly none attached with drawing pins – Instead I could use that new-fangled stuff called blu-tack. And so it came to pass that a giant poster of Paul Newman was purchased and a slightly smaller one of Robert Redford to feature on the newly painted khaki green walls. I honestly think they remained there until I left home about four years later so I obviously stayed true to this pair for a sizeable chunk of my teenage years.
Because I usually end a post with lyrics, which is not really possible with South American Getaway, I will also include a clip of the most familiar piece of music from that film’s soundtrack, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head. Again this was a Bacharach composition and I always knew that the person singing it in the film was BJ Thomas but of course in the UK at the start of 1970, it was that dashing Frenchman Sacha Distel who got to No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart with the song.
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head by BJ Thomas:
It’s a bizarre kind of song to have inserted into a film about The Wild West but somehow it just works. This was a film all about the relationship between Butch, Sundance and Katharine Ross’s character Etta Place. Despite the desperately sad ending, there were just so many comedic moments and the scene on the bicycle kind of summed it up for me. Over the years I have tried to put together the recipe for a “perfect day” and a lot of the ingredients are contained within the video for this song:
It’s got to be a sunny day and if dappled sunlight is present (like here) even better.
Got to be with good friends you can truly relax with and be yourself.
Got to be wearing possibly quirky, but definitely comfortable, casual clothes.
Important that there is no timetable or agenda for the day so that you can just go with the flow.
Not got to be a costly day but to be full of simple pleasures.
Get to go home to your own bed at night!
Not for everyone I know but works for me and watching the scene from the film again, I just love how Butch and Etta have that easy relaxed friendship, riding around in dappled sunlight, picking apples from the tree. Very late ’60s indeed and oh to have been Miss Ross on that very special day. Stepford was still many years in the future so for the time-being, until the going got a bit tough down Bolivia-way, she could enjoy being part of one of the most famous trios in film history.
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head Lyrics (Song by Burt Bacharach/Hal David)
Raindrops are falling on my head And just like the guy whose feet Are too big for his bed Nothing seems to fit Those raindrops Are falling on my head They keep falling
So I just did me some Talking to the sun And I said I didn’t like the way He got things done Sleeping on the job Those raindrops Are falling on my head They keep fallin’
But there’s one thing I know The blues they send to meet me Won’t defeat me, it won’t be long Till happiness Steps up to greet me
Raindrops keep falling on my head But that doesn’t mean my eyes Will soon be turning red Crying’s not for me ’cause, I’m never gonna stop the rain By complaining, Because I’m free Nothing’s worrying me
It won’t be long Till happiness Steps up to greet me
Raindrops keep falling on my head But that doesn’t mean my eyes Will soon be turning red Crying’s not for me cause, I’m never gonna stop the rain By complaining, Because I’m free, ’cause nothing’s worrying me
Postscript:
As luck would have it I’ve just found a photo of my teenage bedroom and I think I made a mistake – Robert Redford was the large poster and Paul Newman the smaller one. Shows off the mustard/khaki walls too (and Sandra the doll!).
I think I may have lost all my followers as I’ve been less than prolific around here of late but I only have 15 posts to write before I get to a grand total of 500 in the bank, and with any luck I’m going to complete them just ahead of this blog’s 10th birthday at the start of 2026. I’ve had plenty of inspiration of late but once you lose momentum in the world of “web logging”, it’s hard to get started again. Only one way to find out just how hard…
What I’m working towards
Have you had a good summer? I certainly have and a lot to do with the effort I’ve put in to catching up with old friends. When I say old friends I really mean that, as some I hadn’t seen for over 40 years. I also did this back in 2015, the year before I started this blog, but back then I didn’t track down the more elusive ones, so this time I was going for broke. Since 2015, both my cousin and one of the old flatmates have died, so if you’re thinking of metaphorically picking up the phone anytime soon, don’t put it off a moment longer.
Some famous fictional groups of friends
I first went to Edinburgh to meet up with my old flatmate and her sister who always come up for the festival. She has featured here before, standing with me outside our first flat in Aberdeen, and as I also spent a week in The Silver City (it’s the radioactive granite that gives it that name!), I had a trip down our old street to see what had changed. The photography has got better, that’s what, plus the fence has gone. Weirdly, the cracked path is showing the same general pattern, it’s just got 45 more years of wear and tear. And, the door is now blue.
Number 18, 45 years on
But the meet-up that was the most long awaited was the one with the girl I sat beside for most subjects between the ages of 12 and 16. She was the smartest girl in our year and because of her smarts she was railroaded into doing Medicine at university. For two weeks we resided in the same hall of residence, but it was only two weeks because at the end of that time she realised that Medicine was definitely not for her and promptly left. After that I didn’t see much of her but she became a successful accountant and we continued to exchange Christmas cards from opposite ends of the country. Funnily enough she is one of the few people in the real world who know about this blog as every now and again we text each other if a Bay City Roller has died, or if something momentous has happened in the world of early ’70s pop music, as we had both been forensic in our approach to following the charts back in those days. Needless to say, the meet-up after 45 years apart was such a joy and all the old stories about our schooldays came tumbling out. We will do it again for sure.
But this is a music blog so what song should I share? I actually did a search for songs about friendships and this one, In My Life from 1965, jumped out at me. I particularly like the video showing the young whipper-snapper Beatles as the best of friends, something we sometimes forget. As it says in the website, The Forty Five, “With A Little Help From My Friends might be the obvious song in their canon about friendship, but the true tearjerker is this sepia-tinged offering that looks back at a life and those that have meant the most throughout it.“
In My Life by the Beatles:
I am loving my current life, but I’m so glad I still have all these friends from the past in my life too. This blog may be ANostalgic Journey Through The Tracks Of My Years, but this post has definitely been A Nostalgic Journey Through The Friends Of My Years!
Until next time…
In My Life Lyrics Song by Paul McCartney/John Lennon
There are places I’ll remember All my life though some have changed Some forever not for better Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments With lovers and friends I still can recall Some are dead and some are living In my life I’ve loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers There is no one compares with you And these memories lose their meaning When I think of love as something new
Though I know I’ll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I’ll often stop and think about them In my life I love you more
Though I know I’ll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I’ll often stop and think about them In my life I love you more
I was really saddened to hear news of the death of Brian Wilson last night before going to bed. There aren’t many artists with their own category on my sidebar, but the group TheBeach Boys, which could never have existed without Brian, is definitely there. He is the last Wilson brother to leave us, at a respectable age of 82, but is this the start of something that I’ve been dreading for a while – those legends who against all the odds have made it to be octogenarians, might be on borrowed time. Let’s hope not.
Brian was most definitely ahead of his time and after signing with Capitol Records in 1962, became the first pop musician credited for writing, arranging, producing, and performing his own material. In short, Brian was a genius.
As I am time-poor at the moment I’m going to cheat a little with my tribute to Brian by sharing some excerpts from blog posts I’ve written before. Wonderful to see the clips again though, and to listen to those wonderful songs.
From 2/10/20
It was the year of Covid and many of us watched an awful lot of telly. I found a really special documentary on Prime called Echo In The Canyon where Jakob Dylan (Bob’s son) had met up with and interviewed musicians who had lived in Laurel Canyon in the 1960s. Brian was one of those musicians. Jakob then paired up with other musicians to make contemporary versions of their songs from back in the day. A truly magical bit of telly.Here is an excerpt from the post I wrote about it:
Jakob looks and sounds uncannily like his dad at times during the film, where he and a selection of other musicians cleverly intersperse candid interviews with performances of some of the most memorable songs from the era. One of these guest musicians was my new discovery, Fiona Apple. I was bowled over when they got up on stage to sing the Brian Wilson song In My Room. Short, but oh so beautiful.
In My Room by Fiona Apple and Jakob Dylan:
Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys had been a Laurel Canyon resident in the late ’60s and despite starting out writing songs that represented the youth culture of southern California (basically surfin’, surfin’ and more surfin’) it soon became obvious that Brian was a bit of a musical genius, the like of whom don’t come along very often. Their album Pet Sounds, written and produced by Brian, was released in 1966 and is often cited as having inspired the Beatles to make Sgt. Pepper.
Apparently Brian had been an agoraphobic during his teens and had refused to leave his bedroom for some time. The song was written from the perspective of a teenager who felt safe and comfortable there. I’m pretty sure DD doesn’t have agoraphobia, but the amount of time she has been spending in her old school bedroom since returning home is concerning me [this was the year of Covid – Alyson]. She is studying, and possibly doesn’t want to interfere with our routines, but as for many other young people who may not have work right now and can no longer be with friends, it just doesn’t feel very healthy at all. Maybe why I’ve been affected by the song so much.
Although it’s the Fiona Apple/Jakob Dylan version that I’ve fallen in love with this week, I can’t go without sharing the original by the Beach Boys themselves. Lots of screaming from the girls in the audience, but I think we still get the sense of it (and a lovely boyish smile from Brian at 0:35).
From 2/9/17
This one is self-explanatory I think. An excerpt from 2017:
Well, it’s been a bit of a week, with no time for heavily researched blog posts. When that happens I usually resort to a web-diary type affair and a few songs have come to mind. First of all, after reading a post written by Jez over at Dubious Towers last weekend, where he recommended watching the film Love & Mercy about the life of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, I did just that. In doing so I fell in love with the album Pet Sounds all over again. I think I knew a bit about the troubled life that Brian had post Beach Boys, but this film really highlighted the nightmare he went through in the 1980s under the supervision of highly controlling psychotherapist Dr Eugene Landy. Fortunately the love of a good woman saved him and joy of joys they are still married today, so a happy ending to a sorry tale.
What was great about this film however was that we got to witness the creative genius that went into producing Pet Sounds back in 1966. The sounds on this album were just that, Brian’s favourite, or pet, sounds and the talented Wrecking Crew that worked with him on that album acknowledged his genius above all others they collaborated with. Brian at this point was still aged only 24. I have featured the wonderful song God Only Knows before in this blog (link here) so here is another from that album, Wouldn’t It Be Nice. Something interesting that came out of this biopic was that contrary to popular belief, The Beach Boys didn’t actually surf!
Wouldn’t It Be Nice by The Beach Boys:
From 18/12/16
This one has already been mentioned in the excerpt above but here is something I wrote after watching the film Love Actually, just before Christmas 2016, at the end of my first full year of blogging.Here it is:
The song I want to feature for this post is the one used for the closing credits of the movie, God Only Knows by The Beach Boys. This is one of my favourite songs and was written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher. It was released in May 1966 (very close to my favourite year for music 1967) as the eighth track on the wonderful Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds and is of course from the baroque pop camp, of which I am so fond. The sentiments expressed in the lyrics were not specific to any god, and could be addressed to any “higher power”, being a song apparently about moving forward after loss. Well I don’t know about that because the lyrics seem to infer that moving forward would be nigh impossible. Whatever, it is still one of the most beautiful songs of the 20th century so thank you Brian and the boys for giving it to us.
God Only Knows by The Beach Boys:
Until next time… RIP Brian Wilson.
God Only Knows Lyrics (Song by Brian Wilson/Tony Asher)
I may not always love you But long as there are stars above you You never need to doubt it I’ll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I’d be without you If you should ever leave me Though life would still go on believe me The world could show nothing to me So what good would living do me
God only knows what I’d be without you God only knows what I’d be without you If you should ever leave me Well life would still go on believe me The world could show nothing to me So what good would living do me
God only knows what I’d be without you God only knows what I’d be without you God only knows
WIAA: Alyson, like Nathan Jones, you’ve been gone too long. What’s happened?
ALYSON: I know WIAA, it’s been far too long and I have no legitimate excuse either. I never wanted to be one of those bloggers who was “no longer in the field” but I can see how it happens. Only another 7 months until my blog’s tenth birthday though, and I really want to make it to that date.
WIAA: You can do it Alyson, I have every faith in you.
ALYSON: Despite saying I have no legitimate excuse for my absence, I kind of do. DD has hijacked my blog’s title and set up one of her own – all because she has a new puppy in her life called, wait for it…, ALFIE!
Alfie by Cilla Black:
WIAA: Well, he certainly is a cute bundle but I’ll bet he’s keeping you on your toes.
ALYSON: He certainly is. We kept pointing out that it would be really difficult owning a dog when she and her other half work full-time, but of course that “minor” stumbling block was ignored, as I think she knew, come the hour, we would step in and help out with him. To be fair, DD does work from home a lot so it’s not been too full on yet, but we are roped in for puppy-sitting a few times a week. Mr WIAA is very fond of Alfie but I’m already totally smitten.
He likes slippers! Wait until the end to see his cute face.
So, what’s the obvious song to feature for someone like me who was aged 12 in 1972? Why that would be Donny Osmond’s massive No. 1 hit called Puppy Love. As regular visitors to this place might already suspect, I was a big fan of this boy from Utah who had a gorgeous smile and an awful lot of brothers. Although I’ve already shared around here the first album I ever bought with my own money (an Elvis one), I have never admitted to the second one. That would be because it was indeed a Donny Osmond one, Portrait Of Donny. It came with signed photos and I very naughtily told my friends I had written to Donny and he had sent them back to me. A lie to be sure, and I don’t think anyone believed me when they scrutinised the pictures, but hey, I was a pre-teen with a big crush who had a Donny transfer ironed onto her pillowcase and a pair of brushed denim flares with his name embroidered on the patch pocket (in chain stitch done by my own fair hand).
But of course it is no longer 1972 and I am no longer a pre-teen, and once their early ’70s heyday was over, it became really quite uncool to be a fan of any Osmond family member. What I thought would be interesting would be to see a clip of the song’s writer, Paul Anka, performing it in 1960. Not a song about a canine at all, but about teenage love, and how no-one understands it’s intensity – although we’ve all been there.
Paul Anka was a Canadian, who like Donny, was a bit of a teen idol. Unlike Donny he self-penned most of the songs he recorded and is famed for having written the English lyrics to the song My Way, Frank Sinatra’s signature song. Paul had a bit of a career resurgence in the 1970s and I do remember his song from 1974, (You’re) Having My Baby. My dad did a bit of a double-take when he heard me listening to that one, probably hoping it would be some time until I would be having anyone’s baby (it took 20 years actually!).
The last word should go to the real puppy though, Alfie. He came along just before St Valentine’s Day so of course he had to arrange a card for his new owner/mum. Very apt I think.
Thanks to my blog for prompting me to get blogging again.
Until next time…
Puppy Love Lyrics (Song by Paul Anka)
And they called it puppy love Oh, I guess they’ll never know How a young heart really feels And why I love her so
And they called it puppy love Just because we’re, we’re 17 Tell them all it-, please, tell them, isn’t fair To take away my only dream
I cry each night my tears for you My tears are all in vain I hope and I pray that may, maybe someday You’ll be back (you’ll be back) in my arms (in my arms) once again (You’ll be back in my arms once again)
Someone, help me, help me, help me, please Is the answer up above? How could I, oh, how could I tell them This is not a puppy love? (This is not a puppy love)
Someone, help me, help me, help me, please Is the answer up above? How could I ever tell them This is not a puppy love? (This is not a puppy love)
Postscript:
As I’ve had a positive feedback to this one I shall cast my embarrassment aside and also share the clip of Donny singing his song, with his brothers doing a bit of backup singing. They all had their individual costume colour and Donny’s was purple. It therefore became the favourite colour of many a preteen girl around then!
Last week I went to see the new Bob Dylan biopic called A Complete Unknown (see what they did there?) and it certainly was an experience. The story was set during the short period 1961 to 1965 when Bob went from being a new arrival on the Greenwich Village folk scene, to becoming a bit of a superstar.
As I was born in Scotland at the start of the 1960s, that story, very much an American one, was just before my time so I learned a lot. I’ve said around here before that I like Bob’s songs best when they are sung by other people but after watching the film I think I’m a convert to his kind of delivery. Not that we hear Bob on the soundtrack at all, as it is the actor Timothée Chalamet who does the honours. He is an actor that I admire a lot and I have it on good authority that he plays the part of Bob really well in terms of how he looks, sounds and behaves. An Oscar nomination confirms that. Here he is singing the song alluded to in the film’s title.
Like A Rolling Stone by Timothée Chalamet:
Joan Baez plays an important part in the film and again the actress who plays her does a fantastic job. Her voice is beautiful as I can imagine Joan’s was back in the day, when she and Bob were often paired up on stage, especially at the renowned Newport Folk Festival.
Bob and Joan
I came away wanting to listen to more Bob Dylan songs and fortunately found a fair few on my hard drive. I’m warming to this one most at the moment so here is the man himself from 1965 singing It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue. Bob has never divulged who Baby Blue was so we’re still in the dark all these years later.
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue by Bob Dylan:
If you’re thinking of going to see the film, I would thoroughly recommend it. You don’t particularly warm to the character of Bob as he could be (as Joan Baez told him) a bit of an asshole but it was wonderful to see the context in which his classic songs were written, and wonderful to find out who the girl on the album cover was. Timothée does a good job of mumbling, just like Bob, but you do work out most of what he says and that was good enough for me. I think a lot of us will leave the cinema with a new appreciation for Bob Dylan, and like me, will be scouring their music library to see what they’ve got by the man, music they might not have listened to for quite some time.
Until next time…
Like A Rolling Stone (Song by Bob Dylan)
Once upon a time you dressed so fine Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you? Yeah, people’d call, say “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall” You thought they were just kiddin’ you
You used to laugh about Everybody that was hangin’ out And now you don’t walk so proud Now you don’t talk so loud About having to be scrounging your next meal
How does it feel How does it feel To be on your own With no direction home A complete unknown Just like a rolling stone?
Come on
You went to the finest schools all right, Miss Lonely But you know you only used to get juiced in it Nobody taught you how to live out on the street But now you’re gonna have to get used to it
You said you’d never compromise With the mystery tramp, but now you realize That he’s not selling any alibis As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes And say do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel How does it feel To be on your own With no direction home A complete unknown Just like a rolling stone?
How does it feel How does it feel To be on your own With no direction home A complete unknown Just like a rolling stone?
Yeah, the princess on the steeple all the pretty people Drinkin’, thinkin’ that they got it made Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts Even to take that that diamond ring, you’d better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused At Napoleon in rags with the language that he used Now go to him now, he calls you, you can’t refuse When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose You’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel How does it feel To be on your own With no direction home A complete unknown Just like a rolling stone?
We lost a titan of the music industry last Sunday when Quincy Delight Jones Jr., 91, died peacefully at his home in Bel-Air. He had come a long way from his humble beginnings on the South Side of Chicago. I thought I knew a fair bit about Quincy when I heard the news, but as ever, it’s not until you start to read the tributes that you discover how much you didn’t know.
I hadn’t, for example, realised he’d had quite the career as a jazz musician, arranger, and composer throughout the 1950s, and worked extensively with Frank Sinatra. Quincy first worked with Frank in 1958 and then six years later he was invited to arrange and conduct his live album with the Count Basie Orchestra, Sinatra at the Sands. Frank even gave him a gold pinkie ring with his personal crest and from that day on he never took it off.
Come Fly With Me by Frank Sinatra with the Count Basie Orchestra
I also didn’t know that Soul Bossa Nova, which became the theme tune for Mike Myers’ film series Austin Powers, was composed and first performed by Quincy in 1962. It got a whole new lease of life, and audience, when the first film was released in 1997.
Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones
In the 1960s Quincy started to write the music for film soundtracks and along with Don Black created this bit of movie magic, On Days Like These, the theme tune for 1969’s The Italian Job starring Michael Caine. Sublime – one of my favourite ever film themes.
On Days Like These by Matt Monro
We’re now getting onto more familiar territory and I did know that Quincy produced the soundtrack for 1978’s The Wiz, the musical adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. It was whilst working on The Wiz that Michael asked Quincy to recommend some producers for his upcoming solo album. He offered some names but when none were right for the project he eventually offered to produce the album himself. Michael accepted and the rest, as they say, is history. The first album they made together, Off the Wall, sold about 20 million copies. Michael and Quincy’s next collaboration, Thriller, sold 65 million copies and became the highest-selling album of all time. The third album in the trilogy was Bad, which sold 45 million copies, and this was the last time they worked together.
Off The Wall by Michael Jackson
Quincy didn’t often produce albums under his own name but back in 1981 he released the The Dude. I wouldn’t have remembered this album but I very definitely remember the single Razzamatazz (with vocals by Patti Austin) as it climbed to No. 11 in the UK Singles Chart, Quincy’s biggest solo hit over here. Having just listened to it straight after Off The Wall, there is more than a passing similarity, which of course makes perfect sense.
Razzamatazz by Quincy Jones with Patti Austin:
This tribute is growing arms and legs and I am conscious that I seem to be relying on a string of YouTube clips. We’re nearly there though. I’m also conscious I’ve shared a clip of someone I had banished from this blog a few years ago. It just didn’t seem right to make no mention of the three albums Quincy made with Michael Jackson, however, as in terms of his musical legacy they were probably his finest hour. I actually enjoyed watching the 21-year-old Michael sing and dance his way through Off The Wall, as being objective, he really was a rare talent.
In 1985 Quincy used his influence to get most of the major American artists together to record We Are The World. It was the US version of our Band Aid single and it raised even more money for the victims of famine in Ethiopia.
By the 1990s, Quincy Jones had his own production company and worked with film studios and television networks to make copious amounts of entertainment. He was the person who gave us Will Smith in the form of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and yes, you guessed it, he composed the theme tune for the show.
For the next 30 years Quincy continued to be active in the entertainment industry and as recently as 2020, he appeared on the album Dawn FM by the Weeknd, performing a monolog in the sixth track, A Tale by Quincy. I would urge you to listen to it. It explains a lot.
I am reminded of the post I wrote about Burt Bacharach when he died. Both he and Quincy were in their 90s when they died so it’s not a tragedy, but it does draw a line under their amazing body of work. Unlike with Burt, whose life’s work I was more familiar with, I have learnt a lot about Quincy writing this post. They don’t come along very often, these magicians of music, but aren’t we glad that a few times in a generation, they do. RIP Quincy Jones.
Until next time…
Razzamatazz Lyrics (Song by Quincy Jones/Rod Temperton)
Don’t believe those clouds in the sky ‘Cause they’ll be movin’ on and the sun will shine If the world’s been passin’ you by Just reach for a star and you’ll realize
Got to put back all the good times that we had We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz
If you feel your life’s in a rut Just come on out tonight, and we’ll pull you up Ain’t no use in dragging your feet ‘Cause something’s in the air that just can’t be beat
Got to put back all the good times that we had We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz (Razzamatazz)
Bring out the rides with all those white wall tires Let’s go out cruisin’ like we used to do Get suited down, let’s set the town on fire Jump out your seat and let the music pull you through
We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz (Razzamatazz) We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz (Razzamatazz) We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz (Razzamatazz) We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz (Razzamatazz) We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz (Razzamatazz)
Got to put back all the good times that we had We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz (Razzamatazz)
Bring out the rides with all those white wall tires Let’s go out cruisin’ like we used to do Get suited down, let’s set the town on fire Jump out your seat and let the music pull you through
You can lay your soul on the line ‘Cause we can make it work if we do it right Got to spread this message around The people of the world should be getting down
Got to put back all the good times that we had We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz (Razzamatazz) We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz (Razzamatazz) We can make it better with a little bit of Razzamatazz (Razzamatazz) (Give a bit of Razzamatazz)
Well, I must be enjoying my time in Delaware a bit too much, as it’s been a while since I came up with anything new around here. When I say “my time in Delaware”, I of course mean the latest edition of my resurrected series, An American Odyssey In Song. But no, I will continue my journey around the states in due course – in the meantime I’ll explain why I’ve been so…
Lazy by David Byrne
In September we went down to Harrogate for another stay with my good friend from student days. I have however written a travelogue kind of post about Harrogate and Yorkshire before (link here) so I didn’t feel inclined to go there again. The difference this time was that our trip coincided with the local Flower Show and it turns out the amateur gardeners of North Yorkshire are dab hands at growing comically large vegetables. A small selection shown below.
Ooh err missus, what a lot of whoppers!
I’ll bet that’s the first time David Byrne has come next to a group of giant vegetables in a music blog. Not so for the Beach Boys, however, as they recorded a song about legumes back in 1967. If you don’t believe me here is the proof. The song was apparently a tongue-in-cheek promotion of organic food. Either that or about how marijuana was turning Brian Wilson and his friends into a “vegetative” state. I’ve heard it all now.
Vegetables by the Beach Boys
Our trip to Yorkshire ended up being extended by a couple of days as back in September LNER staff decided to strike on the weekend we were due to travel back north. Their online booking system confounded me when it came to changing our tickets, so I bought new ones for the Monday on the promise I would get a refund for the ones that were now useless. A hotel was booked in York and all was well – I thought. At the last minute the strike was cancelled so no refund after all. An expensive error of judgement on my part but I’m glad the rail workers came to a settlement.
The upside was that we really enjoyed our time in York. There had been a mini-meetup with some of my blogging buddies in that very city the year before, but that was just ahead of me becoming quite ill, so I couldn’t really enjoy that get-together as much as I should have. Second time around it went fine and we even won the pub quiz at the Cock and Bottle round the corner from our hotel! Here are some pictures from both the 2024 visit and from BlogCon23.
Regulars around here will probably remember that I was largely absent from this blog last year because my mental health took a turn for the worse. I even ended up becoming a hospital inpatient for quite some time. At the end of September, I had an appointment with the consultant I have to check in with every so often, and it was decided I should stop taking some of the medication I have been on for over a year now. Suffice it to say it didn’t go well and on top of the physical side-effects of stopping quite suddenly, I also felt very low which seriously affected my motivation for doing anything, including blogging. The good news is I’ve been back to see the consultant and I’m now back on the meds – not a long-term solution but in the meantime, I’m back to feeling like a better version of myself which is fine by me.
What I think will really get this blog started again is replacing “reading hour” with “writing hour.” To explain – last year when I was in hospital, Mr WIAA used to switch off the phones at 5pm and settle down with a book for an hour. It helped him unwind after a stressful day of worrying about me and fielding phone calls from concerned friends. He got through many novels during that time which was a first for him, as prior to that the same book used to sit by his bedside for about a year before it was finished. When I got home from hospital we kept up the same routine, but after 11 months, and 25 books completed, I think it’s time to change my routine. Having a dedicated hour set aside for a hobby is a good thing and I’m looking forward to becoming good friends with my blog again. (If anyone is interested in what I’ve been reading, I’ve listed my 25 in the postscript.)
I’ve mentioned the book below by Will Hodgkinson before, but I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who was born at the start of the 1960s and came of age in the 1970s. He covers the soundtrack to our teenage years, each chapter covering the various bands and singers who stole our hearts – and our pocket money – back then.
The first chapter is dedicated to Marc Bolan of T. Rex who along with a few others, came up with the musical sub-genre Glam Rock. T. Rex filled our rock and pop magazines in the early ’70s when they had a run of eleven top ten singles, four of which reached the top of the UK Singles Chart – Hot Love, Get It On, Telegram Sam and Metal Guru. I was at school camp in Ayrshire when Metal Guru reached the top spot. In those technologically primitive times, a small black and white television had been wheeled onto the stage of the hall where we all met up every evening, so that we could watch Top Of The Pops. I can still remember the big cheer that went out when we heard that Marc and Co. had knocked the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards version of Amazing Grace off the No. 1 position. We were Scottish, and they had bagpipes, but at the age of 12, all we wanted to hear was the sound of T. Rex.
Metal Guru by T. Rex:
I would love to say my friends and I had brought our glam gear to school camp, but no, satin and sequins hadn’t quite made it to the wardrobes of your average 12-year-old Scot back then. I did have some glittery eye shadow however that I wore to the disco at the end of the two weeks. I can’t remember now whether that was to match my crimplene flares, my hotpants with bib, or my gypsy style dress (all very fashionable in 1972) but I do remember that change was afoot. Colour televisions were appearing in living rooms all over the country and suddenly our favourite bands could be seen in all their glory. The costumes became more and more elaborate and were embraced by Slade, the Sweet, Mud, David Bowie et al. The teenage years were just about to start and we had been born at just the right time!
Until next time…
Metal Guru Lyrics (Song by Marc Bolan)
Whoa-oh, yeah Metal guru, is it you? Metal guru, is it you? Sitting there in your armour plated chair oh yeah Metal guru, is it true? Metal guru, is it true? All alone without a telephone oh yeah
Metal guru could it be you’re gonna bring my baby to me? She’ll be wild you know, a rock ‘n’ roll child, oh yeah
Metal guru has it been Just like a silver-studded saber-toothed dream I’ll be clean you know, pollution machine
Metal guru, is it you? Metal guru, is it you? Oh, yeah Whoa-oh, yeah whoa, whoa Metal guru could it be you’re gonna bring my baby to me? She’ll be wild you know, a rock ‘n’ roll child oh yeah
Metal guru, is it you? Metal guru, is it you? All alone without a telephone
Metal guru could it be you’re gonna bring my baby to me? She’ll be wild you know, a rock’n’roll child oh yeah
Metal guru, is it you? Yeah, yeah, yeah Metal guru, is it you? Yeah, yeah, yeah Metal guru, is it you? Yeah, yeah, yeah Metal guru, is it you? Yeah, yeah, yeah Metal guru, is it you? Yeah, yeah, yeah
Postscript:
Mainly for my own record, here is the list of books I’ve read so far this year. I’ve highlighted the ones I enjoyed most in case anyone trusts my judgement.
We Solve Murders – Richard Osman The First Casualty – Ben Elton The Housemaid – Freida McFadden The Other Queen – Philippa Gregory The Last Tudor – Philippa Gregory The Lost Bookshop – Evie Woods The Zone of Interest – Martin Amis Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver Tell Me A Secret – Jane Fallon Never Greener – Ruth Jones The Dead of Winter – Stuart MacBride Larch Tree Lane – Anna Jacobs Meantime – Frankie Boyle In Perfect Harmony: Singalong Pop in 70s Britain – Will Hodgkinson Companion Piece – Ali Smith French Braid – Anne Tyler A Mother’s Heart – Carmel Harrington
All of the following by Louise Candlish – I really got into her this summer after reading her newest novel Our Holiday. Probably best suited to female readers but a particular house always features as a main character which is a bit different. Psychological thrillers in the main.
Our Holiday The Second Husband The Day You Saved My Life The Island Hideaway The Sudden Disappearance of the Frasers The Only Suspect The Disappearance of Emily Marr The Heights
I think I’ve mentioned around here before that I now volunteer in a local charity shop. It’s only for one day a week but I’ve really come to enjoy my day in the shop, in amongst all those things people have found excess to requirements.
This week I was going through a trolley of things which had to be priced ready to go out on the shop floor and in amongst it all there were three 45rpm singles – the one at the top caught my eye. It was the song Out On The Floor by Dobie Gray. But of course Dobie wasn’t singing about anything going out on a shop floor, he was singing about dancing, and I knew this song was a big favourite with the Northern Soul faithful back in the early to mid 70s. Could you ever find lyrics more appropriate for people who regularly attended “all-nighters” in repurposed dancehalls in the North of England?
Out On The Floor by Dobie Gray
I’ve written about Northern Soul around here before (link to posts), as it fascinates me how a body of young northern men came to love dancing to obscure soul records from the mid 60s so much, but it wasn’t until I read this book by Stuart Cosgrove that I realised how little I knew about it all. Although Stuart is a Scot, back in the day he and his friends would travel south to attend the legendary all-nighters in places like Wigan Casino and in doing so he built up a vast knowledge of not only the records that were played but of the various characters best known on the circuit. It was all down to a handful of DJs really and where they went the crowds followed. What a time to have been alive.
If you are interested in the history of Northern Soul I would thoroughly recommend Stuart’s book. As for Dobie’s record in the shop, I didn’t buy it as it’s definitely not one of those really rare ones that change hands for lots of money, and I don’t think it was in very good condition, but it certainly drew me to a song that has become an earworm for the rest of the week. Thankfully a nice earworm.
Until next time…
Out On The Floor Lyrics (Song by Fred Darian/Alfred V De Lory)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, babe’s it’s out of sight Out on the floor each night, I’m really movin’ The band’s is wailin’ right I feel like groovin’ The chicks are out of sight and I am grooving The crowd is in tonight beggin’ for more
I get my kicks out on the floor
I am on the floor tonight, I feel like singin The beat is running right and guitars are ringin’ I’m really on tonight and everything swingin’ The room is packed out tight, light at the door
So I get my kicks out on the floor
Yeah, yeah, yeah, babe’s it’s out of sight
When I’m out on the floor, it makes me feel like a king Everybody here, don’t you know what I mean It makes me wanna move (makes me wanna move). It makes me feel that groove (make me feel that groove). I wanna twist and shout (makes me twist and shout). Work it on out (make me work it on out)
When I feel that beat (feel that beat), I gotta move my feet
Out on the floor tonight, I feel like singin’ The beat is hot and bright, guitars are ringin’ The chicks are out of sight everything’s swingin’ The room is packed up tight, lined at the door, oh, yeah So I’m gettin’ my kicks, out on the floor (I got some more) Don’t you feel that beat, down in in your feet
What's It All About? 