ALYSON: Hi WIAA, I’m sorry I missed adding to your pages last weekend but I was away from home, having a wonderful couple of days with another man.
WIAA: Oh. Didn’t expect that to be the reason! What did your other half say about that or did you not tell him?
ALYSON: No, he knew and was ok with it. In fact he joined us during the day for long walks and trips to coffee shops but went home at night to leave us to it.
WIAA: This is getting weirder and weirder Alyson, and I thought I knew you.
ALYSON: It was magical WIAA. We snuggled up in bed at night and I stroked his gorgeous brown curls. In the morning his head was lying next to me on the pillow and his paw was on my shoulder.
WIAA: Paw, paw – what kind of half-man/half-beast is he?!?
ALYSON: Oh sorry, did I not make it clear? I was spending the weekend with Alfie the puppy whilst his mum and dad were away.
WIAA: Grrr… I think you were messing with me there Alyson.
ALYSON: Maybe I was, a bit, but I fooled you didn’t I? Anyway that’s why I wasn’t able to write a new blog post last weekend but now that I’m a regular blogger again I’m sure I’ll make up for it down the line.
WIAA: Ok, you’re excused. Any appropriate songs for me?
ALYSON: Well I have been looking for songs about dogs but they’re either overly sentimental, novelty songs or just plain bad. I did find this one though written by Harry Nilsson called The Puppy Song. I didn’t even realise it was his song as the only version I knew was the one by David Cassidy from 1973, when it was released as a double A-side along with the song Daydreamer.
The Puppy Song by David Cassidy:
I remember being gifted a flexi-single with Jackie magazine in 1973. It had a few words from David Cassidy in conversational style then he shared snippets of both the songs on the upcoming double A-side. It got to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart so that little bit of promotion obviously did the trick, although at that time he was selling out stadiums all over the world, so he perhaps didn’t need any help in achieving sales.
We first got to know about David Cassidy from his role playing Keith Partridge in the kid’s television show The Partridge Family. It first aired in the UK in 1971 when I was still in Primary School and it’s fair to say most of us girls developed a huge crush on David and he started to fill the pages of our magazines. By the time I got to Secondary School he was a bona fide teen idol, outselling every other artist in the world. As the teenage hormones started to kick in I found myself bursting into tears as I listened to his songs, and I didn’t even understand why.
Poor David died young at the age of 67 in 2017 and I wrote a tribute for him (link here). I also made him the main character in a bit of fairy-tale fan fiction the following year (link here). It centred around his rivalry with fellow teen idol Donny Osmond and although it was fun to write, it perhaps didn’t do my music blogging credibility much good!
Anyway the last word should go to the real life puppy, my lovely weekend companion, Alfie. He was genuinely upset when I packed my bag to go home and apparently sulked with his mum and dad all Sunday evening, giving them the side-eye as if to say, “I had much more fun with granny”. There will be many other weekends and holidays I’m sure.
I know, I’m a very cute puppy
Until next time…
The Puppy Song Lyrics (Song by Harry Nilsson)
Dreams are nothing more than wishes And a wish is just a dream You wish to come true, woo woo
If only I could have a puppy I’d call myself so very lucky Just to have some company To share a cup of tea with me
I’d take my puppy everywhere La, la, la-la I wouldn’t care And we would stay away from crowds And signs that said no dogs allowed Oh we, I know he’d never bite me Whoa de lo……. We, I know he’d never bite me
If only I could have a friend To stick with me until the end And walk along beside the sea Share a bit of moon with me
I’d take my friend most everywhere La, la, la-la I wouldn’t care We would stay away from crowds With signs that said no friends allowed Oh we, we’d be so happy to be Whoa de lo…………. We, we’d be so happy to be together
But dreams are nothing more than wishes And a wish is just a dream You wish to come true Whoa whoa……….
Dreams are nothing more than wishes And a wish is just a dream You wish to come true Whoa whoa woo……..
Well, another freaky coincidence happened this week in relation to this blog. If you dropped by last weekend you may have noticed that I’d written about the Geordie genius Sam Fender, whose song Rein Me In has now been at the top of the UK Singles Chart for eight of the last nine weeks. Various comments came in afterwards and C, from Sun Dried Sparrows, mentioned that she’d recently watched a excellent documentary, presented by Sam Fender, where he delves deep into the story of his fellow Geordies who formed the band Lindisfarne back in the late 1960s. As a songwriter himself, Sam especially focusses on the band’s own genius songwriter and lead singer, Alan Hull. Sam is often dubbed the British Bruce Springsteen but back in the day, Lindisfarne’s Alan Hull was dubbed the Geordie Bob Dylan, his songwriting held in such high esteem. The documentary is no longer on the iPlayer but luckily I found it on YouTube and watched the whole thing right there and then. I was fascinated, and Mr WIAA who along with his brother used to be a fan, was happily singing along to all the songs.
Lindisfarne’s Geordie Genius: The Alan Hull Story
I have written about Lindisfarne around here before but that post was more about my late father-in-law, who was also a Geordie, which by default makes Mr WIAA half-Geordie (link here). I must have done a little research though as I came up with the following description for them: Lindisfarne were a folk-rock hybrid formed in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne of 1969 and were named after the historic Holy Island of Lindisfarne off the Northumbrian coast. The lyrics to their songs blended “wistful sensitivity, social sentiments and boozy revelry”. Fog on the Tyne was the biggest selling album by a British band in 1971.
Lindisfarne in the early 1970s
One of the songs people most associate with Lindisfarne is Lady Eleanor, written by Alan Hull. The song is a beauty and was apparently inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories Eleonora, and The Fall of the House of Usher. No lazy “I love you, you love me” pop lyrics for Alan. The song also features the band’s characteristic combination of mandolin playing and close harmony singing.
But what is this freaky coincidence I referred to at the top of the post? At the start of the week I checked the calendar and saw that we were meeting up with my friend and her husband on Thursday. They live about 50 miles along the coast, but were coming through for the night as they’d been gifted tickets for a show at our local theatre. I got in touch and we planned an early evening supper together ahead of their show, and looked forward to having a catch-up. The following day I realised I’d forgotten to ask what they were going to see, so I hopped onto the theatre’s website and discovered it was none other than… Lindisfarne! At first I thought it must be a tribute band but no, it was the current line-up of Lindisfarne. Having spent the last few days listening to their music and thinking about the musical genius Alan Hull, I immediately thought we’ll have to go too and thankfully I managed to book two of the few remaining tickets.
The current Lindisfarne
And so it came to pass that we spent a joyous two hours listening to the Lindisfarne songbook on Thursday night. Alan Hull sadly died back in 1995 at the very young age of 50 but Rod Clements from the classic line-up is still there and sat front and centre. At age 78 his guitar playing was exceptional and he was able to tell a few anecdotes from back in the day. He was the one who actually wrote their first hit, Meet Me On The Corner, and he said it was very special to him as it was all about “standing under a lamp post waiting for his future ex-wife to appear”. Lead singer duties are now undertaken by Alan Hull’s son-in-law Dave Hull-Denholm who worked with Alan on his last solo album. He makes the songs sound truly authentic. The other members of the band were not from the original line-up but are long-standing replacements, of 30 years and counting. I even managed to take a sneaky picture of them on stage which we were allowed to do as long as we didn’t use a flash. In my efforts to be extra stealthy however, and not annoy those round about me, I accidentally hit the torch button on my phone and had to quickly sit on it as I couldn’t work out in the dark how to switch it off. Such is life.
The Eden Court Theatre stage on Thursday night – Lindisfarne
Released as a single in 1972, Meet Me On The Corner reached the No. 5 spot on the UK Singles Chart. The song was sung by Ray Jackson and appears as the opening track on their album Fog on the Tyne.
Meet Me On The Corner by Lindisfarne:
Until next time…
Meet Me On The Corner Lyrics (Song by Rod Clements)
Hey, Mr Dreamseller, where have you been? Tell me, have you dreams I can see? I came along, just to bring you this song Can you spare one dream for me?
You won’t have met me, and you’ll soon forget So don’t mind me tugging at your sleeve I’m asking you if I can fix a rendezvous For your dreams are all I believe
Meet me on the corner when the lights are coming on And I’ll be there, I promise I’ll be there Down the empty streets we’ll disappear until the dawn If you have dreams enough to share
Lay down your bundles of rags and reminders And spread your wares on the ground Well, I’ve got time, if you deal in rhyme I’m just hanging around
Meet me on the corner when the lights are coming on And I’ll be there, I promise I’ll be there Down the empty streets we’ll disappear until the dawn If you have dreams enough to share
Hey, Mr Dreamseller, where have you been? Tell me, have you dreams I can see? I came along, just to bring you this song Can you spare one dream for me?
Postscript:
In case you missed the first weird blogging coincidence around here, it happened three weeks ago when I featured the band Runrig. I had visited an exhibition that told their story, showed memorabilia and screened footage of the band live, so I planned to write about them the following day after Rol’sSaturday Snapshots. Who should pop up on Snapshots that morning but a photo of Runrig as the theme that day was songs about large bodies of water (Loch Lomond). That was the first time I’d seen them appear on Rol’s blog so it was quite the coincidence and I went on to spend a lovely few hours listening to their songs and watching them on YouTube clips whilst writing the post.
A couple of days later we had to return to the flooring shop in town where we were organising a revamp of our house. As we sat at the desk paying the bill, who should we spot sitting next to us, also arranging the fitting of new floors for his house on Skye, but Donnie Munro, long-time lead singer with Runrig. I had never bumped into him in town before, and had only seen him perform at big live concerts, so I had to do a double take. Now in his early 70s, he still looked quite the (Gaelic) rock star with his lush dark hair, stylish coat and shades. I went home reeling from the coincidence. What will be next I wonder?
Well, we’ve had absolutely lovely weather up here in The Highlands this week with mild temperatures and blue skies. I love spring, as a whole new world opens up ready to be explored, compared with the indoorsy, dark days of winter. I love it so much I celebrate it’s arrival three times and have done on these pages over the years. Imbolc falls on the 1st of February and was one of the cornerstones of the Celtic/pagan calendar signifying the coming of spring. The success of the new farming season was of great importance and rituals were performed to ensure a steady supply of food until the harvest six months later. The weather forecasters mention meteorological spring which of course falls on the 1st of March, but an even better date is the Vernal Equinox, astronomical spring, when the number of hours of daylight overtakes those of darkness. That fell this year on Friday, the 20th of March and to celebrate I had a lovely walk with a friend along the river that flows through the centre of our town.
Rockery plants in full bloom, the castle and my kitchen flowers
Yes, it’s a fine time to be alive and I’ve done a lot of gardening this weekend, tidying up after winter and getting some of the garden furniture out. There is still another date to come of course, when we turn our clocks forward an hour to BST, and that’s Sunday the 29th of March. Summer, we’re coming to get you.
It’s been a good week to be full of the joys of spring as Mr WIAA has been off with his brother, leading the life of James Bond (without the licence to kill) on the ski slopes of Switzerland and France. This is the longest we’ve been apart for an awful long time but I have to admit I’ve quite enjoyed it. I have a pretty full calendar nowadays so I’ve been out of the house quite a bit and when I am here life is so simple. Catering for one, tidying up after one and exclusive use of both the car, and the remote. It will be lovely to have him home again but as an experiment I think I’ve coped very well as a singleton.
The term singleton came about to describe those who live in a single-person household, especially those who prefer the lifestyle of living alone. It was popularised by the Bridget Jones novels and films, whose lifestyle mirrored my own when I bought my first flat at age 27. I worked hard and also played hard (if that’s not too naff a thing to say), but all the time my friends and I were “going out” to find that special person to “stay in with”. At this stage in life being a singleton would be very different indeed, but I’d like to think I could cope if god forbid it should ever happen.
But I’m probably going to remember this week as being one of watching a lot of really good films. Last weekend we watched I Swear about Scottish lad, John Davidson, who developed Tourette’s Syndrome at the age of 12. It did really well at the BAFTAs although there was a bit of fallout after the inevitable happened at the actual ceremony. It could have been edited out but I suspect those in charge of televising the show were making a point. Anyway, it was very funny (made that way deliberately) but also heart-warming. The real John has done much to raise societal awareness of the condition so that others don’t have to go through what he did as a youth. It’s going to be one of my favourite films of the year.
Once Mr WIAA had left for his trip, I had full control of the remote so the next film I watched was this one, Man On The Run, a Netflix documentary about the years after the break up of the Beatles when Paul McCartney set out on a whole new journey, ending up fronting a highly successful band that I liked a lot during my teenage years, Wings. Did I enjoy it? There was nothing new to learn from the doc but you did get to see a lot of footage from the farm on the Mull of Kintyre. It wasn’t glamorous at all, just a ramshackle holding with outbuildings and sheep, but the growing family could relax and be at one with nature, which really suited them at the time.
What I did take away from it however was that because Paul didn’t deal with the finances, he lost a lot of good band members by not realising they were only being paid a small retainer for being in this new endeavour of his. At first they were flattered to have been asked, but that wears thin after a while. Also, Paul and Linda literally spent all their time together, with Linda even becoming the first recruited member of the new band. It didn’t come naturally to her and the fans at first were pretty scathing but it meant they could carry on being a family unit, wherever the wind took them, which is why they stayed together until Linda sadly died of cancer, at age 56.
It was however lovely hearing all those Wings songs played throughout the doc and they even show the session where they were photographed for the Band On The Run album cover. A veritable who’s who of mid ’70s stars. Can you still name them all?
Band on the Run by Wings:
I’ve almost run out of words which is a shame as I’ve left the best ’til last. My friend came round on Thursday night for cocktails and a film, and it didn’t take long for us to choose Song Sung Blue starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, which is currently on Prime. For once it’s not a biopic but instead the real-life story of a couple from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who back in the mid ’90s start “interpreting the songs of Neil Diamond” (they refused to call themselves a tribute act). They say real life is stranger than fiction and in the case of these two, that was the case. I won’t say much more about them in case of spoilers but suffice to say they became quite big cheeses in their local area. Like with Paul’s doc, we get to hear all those great songs again and it shows what can happen when a couple spend all their time together. Like the film I Swear, it is both funny and heart-warming. Another one for my list of favourite films of the year.
There were so many songs in the film that I found it hard to pick one to share. Play Me is a 1972 song from Neil’s album Moods. It was also hard to find a decent clip of the song but here is one of him performing it with Shirley Bassey, dressed in one of his most extreme bejewelled outfits. He is clearly using all the powers at his disposal to make Shirley fall in love with him, and by the end of the song, I think she has.
Play me by Neil Diamond:
Until next time…
Play Me Lyrics (Song by Neil Diamond)
She was morning, and I was night time I one day woke up To find her lying beside my bed I softly said “Come take me” For I’ve been lonely in need of someone As though I’d done someone wrong somewhere But I don’t know where, I don’t know where Come lately
You are the sun, I am the moon You are the words, I am the tune Play me
Song she sang to me Song she brang to me Words that rang in me, Rhyme that sprang from me Warmed the night, and what was right Became me
You are the sun, I am the moon You are the words, I am the tune Play me
And so it was that I came to travel Upon a road that was thorned and narrow Another place, another grace Would save me
You are the sun, I am the moon You are the words, I am the tune Play me You are the sun, I am the moon You are the words, I am the tune Play me……
Postscript
In case anyone is is interested, here is a picture of the real-life couple who were the inspiration for the film Song Sung Blue, and a link to the documentary made about their lives is included below.
I spent a few days in our capital city earlier this week and presumed I would write about that trip here, but to be honest I’ve written about trips to Edinburgh quite a few times already and also about get-togethers with the ex-flatmates from Aberdeen days (which this was) so I won’t bore you too much. Suffice to say it was an excellent trip and a few things were experienced for the first time such as: being locked in an Escape Room; a tour of Gladstone’s Land (a very old house on the Royal Mile owned by the National Trust for Scotland); and, an exploration of all the curious monuments built at the top of Calton Hill. In the 19th century, Edinburgh was envisioned as the ‘Athens of the North’ and a version of the Parthenon was begun in 1822. The project was ambitious, aiming to commemorate those who fell in the Napoleonic Wars, but was left unfinished due to lack of funds.
The National Monument, Gladstone’s Land and The Secret Lab Escape Room
Despite being with two scientists, we were very bad at solving the puzzles within the cells needed to escape the secret lab, and had to be let out after an hour. The kind of thing you get better at with practice we were told, but quite pricey, so I might just put it down to a fun, one-off experience.
But this is a music blog so did anything pique my interest when in Edinburgh? As expected the rest of our party were not particularly bothered by my renewed interest in what’s happening in the charts, but wherever we went to eat there was always a mixtape (no doubt of the digital variety) playing, and a game of “name that tune” began. Everyone knows about this place so of course the pressure was on for me to identify whatever was playing first. I was most impressed by Mr WIAA however who straight out of the traps got this 1979 song by McFadden & Whitehead, Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now. The restaurant must have gauged that its patrons were of a certain age as the next song up was another from 1979, Making Plans For Nigel by XTC, and yes, I did get that one first. I hadn’t thought about them or their song for some time, so resolved to do some research when I got home.
Making Plans for Nigel by XTC:
The song marked XTC’s commercial breakthrough and spent 11 weeks on the UK Singles Chart peaking at No. 17. The song’s writer was bassist Colin Moulding who said, “When I was about 16, my father wanted me to stay on in school. But by that time, I really didn’t want to do anything other than music… , so in a way, is it autobiographical? Well, a little bit. I knew somebody called Nigel at school and I think that, when you write songs, it’s a lot of things all wrapped up.”
XTC formed in Swindon in 1972 fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding and gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the late 1970s. Andy Partridge credited John Peel as responsible for getting them a recording contract after he asked them to do a session for his show. Andy, who wrote the majority of XTC’s songs, was the group’s frontman and de facto leader. He drove the band’s image, designed many of their record sleeves, and handled most of their interviews. The band were noted for their “Englishness”, their songs from the same school of small town English songwriting invented by Ray Davies of the Kinks, and followed by the Jam, the Specials and mid 1990s Britpop.
XTC
So, “What’s It All About?” – I just never know where my blog posts are going to end up and after writing about my trip to Edinburgh, I doubt if many of my readers would have thought it would be a potted history of XTC. The link was of course that their song became an earworm (which Martin at New Amusements calls, “couplets lodged in my hippocampus with the tenacity of bathroom sealant sticking anywhere you don’t want it to go”) for the rest of the trip.
As for making plans for our children, DD seems to be sorted, now happily doing what we always knew she would be good at despite the fact she rebelled against it heavily 10 years ago. One ex-flatmate has two children who are similarly sorted and she is also now a grandmother whereas the other ex-flatmate didn’t have any children but is an auntie and honorary auntie to many. None of them are called Nigel.
Until next time…
Making Plans For Nigel Lyrics (Song by Colin Moulding)
We’re only making plans for Nigel We only want what’s best for him We’re only making plans for Nigel Nigel just needs this helping hand
And if young Nigel says he’s happy He must be happy He must be happy in his work
We’re only making plans for Nigel He has his future in a British steel We’re only making plans for Nigel Nigel’s whole future is as good as sealed
And if young Nigel says he’s happy He must be happy He must be happy in his work
Nigel is not outspoken But he likes to speak And loves to be spoken to Nigel is happy in his work
I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about when I woke up this morning but then I heard the news that the singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka had passed away at the age of 86, so it became obvious. I thought I had written about him a fair few times around here but not as often as I’d thought once I looked back, so maybe it’s just that many of his songs were radio staples when I was growing up, both the ones from the early ’60s and then the ones during his successful second career in the ’70s. I didn’t know it back then but he had also written many hits for other artists, first of all with his childhood neighbour Howard Greenfield and then later on with Phil Cody.
Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield were one of the many successful songwriting partnerships who took up residence in the Brill Building on Manhattan’s 49th Street in the late ’50s (written about here). Along with Gerry Goffin / Carole King and many other pairs, they churned out hit after hit for people like Connie Francis, Jimmy Clanton and the big Girl Groups of the day. Neil’s first big international hit was in fact Oh! Carol, written about his old high school sweetheart Carole King (she added the ‘e’ later).
A little family anecdote now. We always used to find a song for DD’s birthday so that when she came into the living room to see the balloons, banners and pile of presents there was an appropriate track playing in the background. Obvious I know, but when she turned 16 we chose Neil’s 1959 song Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen. Now that I’ve listened to the lyrics properly it possibly wasn’t appropriate coming from a parent as it’s written from the perspective of a love interest, but hey, it did fit the birthday. I look back at those times and wish I could have bottled them, as time passes so quickly. In the blink of an eye they have grown up and flown the nest (but often come back again, as happened to us).
Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen by Neil Sedaka:
Neil had more hits as an artist in the early 60s, Stairway to Heaven, Calendar Girl and Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, but everything changed after the British Invasion and suddenly the Bobbys (Darin, Vee and Vinton), the Frankies (Avalon and Valli) and the songwriters of the Brill Building became unfashionable and were left out in the cold. Neil carried on songwriting but he didn’t have any more hits until he moved to the UK in the early ’70s and hooked up with the future 10cc at their Strawberry Studios in Stockport. He started writing with Phil Cody and made two albums there one of which featured the song Solitaire made successful by the Carpenters, and the other featured the song Love Will Keep Us Together made successful by Captain & Tennille. Neil’s partnership with Howard Greenfield was now over but his next purple patch was just round the corner.
If like me you were a teenager in the early 1970s, you would have been glued to the TV screen on a Thursday night to watch Top Of The Pops. In amongst all the glam rock artists with their outrageous outfits, we often used to have this middle-aged guy (he was only in his mid 30s at the time) sitting at a piano singing pleasing pop tunes. This song, Laughter in the Rain, reached the No. 15 spot on the UK Singles Chart in 1974 but reached the top spot on the US Billboard Chart. Neil was back.
And here is yet another little anecdote involving DD. A couple of years ago we gave her a turntable for her birthday as the young people seem to have fallen in love with vinyl, as we did back in the day. She has built up a collection of contemporary albums but in amongst these she has also acquired some classic albums by the likes of Sinatra and the Carpenters (we have obviously had an influence on her). I went round to visit recently and she showed me her new purchase, it was the Laughter in the Rain album. “Have you heard of Neil Sedaka?” she asked. I was taken aback but I think she has good taste in music so he has clearly stood the test of time.
Neil followed the success of Laughter in the Rain with a more politically motivated song, The Immigrant, which was inspired by his parents and by John Lennon, then facing immigration issues. The Immigrant reached No. 22 on the Billboard Chart.
The Immigrant by Neil Sedaka:
All these years later, a very apt song for the times we live in. Think it would be banned by “the administration” today.
Neil continued to write songs and perform over the next few decades. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2020, Neil launched a series of free mini-concerts, released through his social media channels, as a method of entertaining his fans during the pandemic. Despite having been nominated for five Grammy awards, he sadly never won the coveted trophy.
Until next time… RIP Neil Sedaka.
The Immigrant Lyrics (Song by Neil Sedaka / Phil Cody)
Harbours open their arms to the young searching foreigner Come to live in the light of the beacon of liberty Plains and open skies billboards would advertise Was it anything like that when you arrived Dream boats carried the future to the heart of America People were waiting in line for a place by the river
It was a time when strangers were welcome here Music would play they tell me the days were sweet and clear It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room That people could come from everywhere
Now he arrives with his hopes and his heart set on miracles Come to marry his fortune with a hand full of promises To find they’ve closed the door they don’t want him anymore There isn’t any more to go around Turning away he remembers he once heard a legend That spoke of a mystical magical land called America
There was a time when strangers were welcome here Music would play they tell me the days were sweet and clear It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room That people could come from everywhere
There was a time when strangers were welcome here Music would play they tell me the days were sweet and clear It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room That people could come from everywhere
My routine of late has been to post something new on a Saturday but yesterday was fully booked what with meeting old friends for a long brunch, and then a hairdressing appointment. Both things went really well as the girls I met up with (we’ll always be girls however old we get) were the people I shared an office with 25 years ago when I first went back to work after having DD. As for my hairdresser I’ve been going to the same one since we moved to our current house 27 years ago, so she knows me well, and there is always lots to catch up on.
But yesterday was Valentine’s Day I hear you say – shouldn’t you have been getting all romantic with Mr WIAA. Well probably, but after 37 years together it’s not such a big deal nowadays, and anyway, The Cairngorms offered up the best day of the year yesterday, so Mr WIAA hotfooted it down to the slopes for a day of snowboarding. Come evening we got together to exchange cards and share an M&S Dine In For Two. And they say romance is dead!
Interestingly, a new celebration has been coined for the 13th February – Galentine’s Day, when you meet up with your female chums (the gals). I was a day too late but DD did just that this year on Friday night – any excuse to dress up, sip cocktails and listen to silly love songs!
Silly Love Songs by Wings:
But back to Mr WIAA and the snowboarding. Whilst he doesn’t much like to watch sport, but rather get out and do it, I am a bit of a couch Maris Piper when it comes to sport and I am loving the Winter Olympics held this time around in Italy. After a bit of a podium drought and disappointment during the first week, we’ve now finally got some medals and both of them are gold. I also know some people think the sport of Curling is like watching paint dry, but we tend to be really good at it here in Scotland and two Olympic medallists live locally. We narrowly missed out on a medal last week in the mixed doubles but I am hopeful there are still opportunities left for medals in that sport.
Not many songs about Winter Sports and Curling but last time I wrote about the Winter Olympics I shared this clip as I am a great fan of the Carpenters and the video for their cover of Ticket To Ride is set in a winter wonderland. Their version was originally recorded in 1969 but then re-recorded for their first Greatest Hits album in 1973. The long piano intro means it doesn’t really kick in until 0:35, but in the capable hands of Karen Carpenter, the line “I think I’m gonna be sad” sounds truly convincing.
Ticket To Ride by The Carpenters:
But this is a music blog so what have I been listening to this week? Although I wrote about the Grammy Awards last week I didn’t mention that the big winner of the night was a Hispanic artist called Bad Bunny, and he was chosen to be the half-time act during the Super Bowl final last Sunday. I’m afraid I know next to nothing about American Football but I do know that these half-time performances are often very memorable and we hear about them in the following days. Mr Bunny’s performance will be remembered for a long time, and in my humble opinion, for all the right reasons.
First of all the POTUS didn’t like it, claiming he was “not an American artist” – ignoring Puerto Rico’s status as a US territory. I can’t show a clip here but you can watch the whole performance on YouTube – Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl. His Grammy-winning album was recorded entirely in Spanish and he also sang in that language on the night. To understand why his whole performance caused the administration to get in a bit of a flutter you’ll have to read the news stories about it, but for many American citizens it was important.
Here is an excerpt from an article by Michael Quintana for the Idaho Statesman: For young viewers, especially Latino children and first-generation Americans, this moment was more than representation. It was affirmation. It said that success does not require erasing your roots or shrinking your identity… At its core, Bad Bunny’s halftime show reminded the country of a truth that often gets lost in political noise: Latino culture is not separate from American culture. It is woven into it. Spanish belongs here. Immigrants belong here. And the stories of those communities are not side notes to the American narrative. They are essential chapters. In a divided and uncertain moment, this performance offered clarity. Representation is not symbolic. It is powerful. And when it appears on a stage this large, it has the ability to reshape who feels seen, who feels heard and who feels they truly belong.
And here is the moment when Bad Bunny finds out he won the big one at the Grammys. Very emotional, for everyone.
Until next time…
Silly Love Songs Lyrics (Song by Paul McCartney/Linda McCartney)
You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love songs But I look around me And I see it isn’t so Some people want to fill the world With silly love songs And what’s wrong with that? I’d like to know Cos here I go again
I love you, I love you I love you, I love you
Ah, I can’t explain The feeling’s plain to me Now can’t you see? Ah, she gave me more She gave it all to me Now can’t you see? What’s wrong with that? I need to know Cos here I go again
I love you, I love you
Love doesn’t come in a minute Sometimes it doesn’t come at all I only know that when I’m in it It isn’t silly, no, it isn’t silly Love isn’t silly at all
How can I tell you about my loved one? How can I tell you about my loved one? How can I tell you about my loved one? How can I tell you about my loved one?
I love you, I love you I love you, I love you
Ah, I can’t explain The feeling’s plain to me Say, can’t you see?
Ah, he gave me more He gave it all to me Say, can’t you see?
Postscript
For those of you following my updates, another change at the top of the UK Singles Chart this week. Probably because of his success at the Grammys and the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny now has a song at the No. 4 spot, but the No. 1 this week is held by Taylor Swift with yet another song from her Life Of A Showgirl album, Opalite. It’s been in the chart since last October but this is the first time it’s reached the top spot. As I predicted Harry Styles only stayed at No. 1 for one week so Dave (ft. Tems) recovered their top position last week. Who knows what next week will bring?
And here’s a postscript to the postscript. If you go right to the end of the Opalite video you’ll see that it came about as a bit of a challenge on the Graham Norton Show. The five other guests on the sofa the night Taylor appeared, were all cast in the video. Domhnall Gleeson jokingly suggested it because of his dancing so Taylor obliged, and added the others too. She’s a creative type that Taylor Swift.
Well, what a week. I had intended to write another post that followed on from last time, but after two fairly routine vaccinations on Monday, I spent the rest of the week in bed with flu-like symptoms. It seems I was one of the unlucky ones who got quite bad side-effects, but on the upside, I should avoid Shingles, Pneumonia, Sepsis and Meningitis in the years to come. I was in two minds about having them as we’ve become human pin-cushions of late but then I thought of all the people of my generation who would still be around had they been offered the childhood vaccines now freely available. Also, a few days of feeling a bit shitty is still far better than getting the diseases listed above, so I went for it.
Not much to do when you have a duvet pulled up to your chin but I did manage to listen to the radio and scroll on my phone. In fact I did manage to do an awful lot of scrolling and it turned out to be quite a big week for news stories on social media. First of all the World Economic Forum took place in Davos where world leaders from government, business and academia met to discuss global issues and set priorities. Even David Beckham turned up to address issues with social media, which was quite ironic this week of all weeks.
The beautiful Davos in Switzerland
The not so beautiful Davros (impossible not to think of him when you hear the word Davos)
So what was discussed at Davos? I’m afraid the detail eluded me what with having a fever an’ all but it seems there was one very impressive speech from a world leader we know very well over here because of his time at the Bank of England. It will be remembered for a long time. There was another speech that will also be remembered for a long time, but perhaps for all the wrong reasons. Earlier in the week some of the posts on social media made me chuckle, but as the days have gone by I’m starting to think it’s all a bit sad. Having witnessed my own mum deteriorate mentally from the age of 80, I can see the signs. It was another three years until she was officially diagnosed by which time things had really got quite bad. I hope the administration in charge have the levers needed to address such a serious issue otherwise we really are in for a tough time.
A country whose name is apparently interchangeable!
A much-loved character from our childhood who was also obsessed by “windmills”, but he needed them to grind corn, not generate clean energy
Whatever happens, there now seems to have been a line crossed in the sand and for the male and female leaders of European countries, it’s time to…
In other news, there has been a very public falling out between the Beckhams and their eldest son. Most people will not be remotely interested in this but it even made it to the national news, so just shows the level of interest in their lives. Again, the first posts on social media made me chuckle, but for VB, former Spice Girl, this week has been excruciatingly embarrassing, and it’s sad that it’s come to this. A not very-talented singer and a good footballer have managed to amass a fortune through hard work and self-promotion, but, they didn’t ever consider that their children might not have wanted to be part of the copyrighted “brand”, especially as adults. Also, as the old saying goes, “A son is a son till he takes him a wife, but a daughter is a daughter all of her life”. I hope they can work things out behind the scenes but I fear worse is yet to come.
There was no actual footage from the wedding held for Beckham Jnr and his new bride, but the former Spice Girl has been accused of humiliating her son by doing a bit of this with him…
From all accounts it wasn’t that bad but VB would have been wise to remember that it was the bride’s day and only she should be centre stage. But what do I know? I do remember that not long after the film Dirty Dancing came out this song became a hit all over Europe and many of us tried doing the Lambada for the first time. Like most South American dances it’s a bit raunchy and not something we were used to in the Scottish Highlands, but maybe at weddings of the rich and famous it’s de rigueur.
Did you watch it? The latest series of The Traitors came to a conclusion on Friday and again, such was the furore, it featured on the national news. I for one just don’t get it but I seem to be in the minority so ended up watching the whole series (for research purposes). Personally I think of it as reality tv for middle-class people. It’s touted as “a game” where you have to be really clever to oust the traitors from the castle. To be fair, you do have to be a goodish actor if you’re chosen to be a traitor, but other than that it’s just a lot of people sitting around asking each other who they’re going to vote for, and lying a lot. Anyway, it got massive viewing figures, and the area it takes place in is just north of us so good publicity for The Highlands. The castle is at Ardross and I discovered this week it used to be owned by Mr Perrins of the famous Lea and Perrins brand. Look what a dash of Worcestershire Sauce could buy you in those days.
The beautiful Ardross Castle just north of the Cromarty Firth
This year’s finalists with the diminutive Claudia (who comes to our town for her spray tans!)
I didn’t mention who won the show in case anyone hasn’t watched it yet but no worries about spoilers with this next story, again on national news. It was Dolly Parton’s80th birthday last week and she is still as busy as ever. I watched two programmes last night on BBC2 about her and it’s impossible not to smile when doing so. She is so upbeat and positive the whole time, exuding that wholesome Southern Charm. It seems she has been like that since childhood and it’s hard to believe she is not like that all the time but even Dolly must have her dark days, especially after her husband Carl died last year. She hides them well though and no-one ever sees her without her signature wigs, make-up and outfits. Even during filming, she never emerges from her dressing room or trailer without being fully Dollified. It’s just who she is.
Hello Dolly!
To finish off this longish post (sorry), here is a clip from 12 years ago when she appeared in the Legends slot at Glastonbury. I don’t know what Dolly’s undergarments are like, or if it’s all cosmetically enhanced, but she certainly has a perky bottom for someone of her years. This song, Jolene, was unbelievably the only one that remotely bothered the UK Singles Chart, reaching the No. 7 spot in 1976. Dolly has written over 3000 songs during her lifetime and apparently wrote both Jolene and I Will Always Love You during the same song writing session in 1973. Not a bad return on the time spent.
Jolene by Dolly Parton:
I think I’ve told this story before, but even to this day Mr WIAA winces when he hears the song Jolene. It came out at just the wrong time for him, before he’d had work done to remedy his slightly discoloured teeth, which had come about because of the tablets his mum had taken for morning sickness ahead of his birth. Oh yes, kids can be cruel, and because his teeth had a “greenish” hue, his classmates’ playground taunt was Joe Green, Joe Green, Joe Green, Joe Green… , sung along to the melody of Dolly’s famous hit. Needless to say, his schooldays weren’t the best years of his life but it just goes to show, sometimes a little bit of “work” is needed to make life as a teen just that little bit more tolerable.
Until next time…
Jolene Lyrics (Song by Dolly Parton)
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene I’m begging of you please don’t take my man Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene Please don’t take him just because you can
Your beauty is beyond compare With flaming locks of auburn hair With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green
Your smile is like a breath of spring Your voice is soft like summer rain And I cannot compete with you, Jolene
He talks about you in his sleep There’s nothing I can do to keep From crying when he calls your name, Jolene
And I can easily understand How you could easily take my man But you don’t know what he means to me, Jolene
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene I’m begging of you please don’t take my man Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene Please don’t take him just because you can
You could have your choice of men But I could never love again He’s the only one for me, Jolene
I had to have this talk with you My happiness depends on you And whatever you decide to do, Jolene
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene I’m begging of you please don’t take my man Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene Please don’t take him even though you can
Jolene, Jolene
Postscript
For those followers who are happy for me to update them on any change at the top of the UK Singles Chart, I found out at 6pm on Friday that this song is the new No. 1 – Raindance by Dave (ft. Tems)
Well, last time I celebrated publishing my 500th post and also this blog’s 10th birthday, but enough of all that back patting and time to crack on with post 501 and my 11th year of blogging. Thanks to everyone who dropped by to congratulate me though.
In the early days of the blog I was often surprised by how one post led onto another, as a connection I hadn’t hitherto noticed became apparent by the time I got to the end. This happened last time. In my very first post I had shared the song Life On Mars? with the video clip of David Bowie in his pale blue suit, as he had passed away the day before on the 10th of January 2016. For the blog’s 10th birthday and anniversary of his death I decided to share it again, with another Bowie song at the end of the post, Heroes, chosen mainly because again he was wearing a pale blue suit. He was after all voted The Best-Dressed Briton in History.
So, what’s this amazing connection I hear you ask? I had also compared pouring over the new UK Singles Chart back in the ’70s, when David Bowie was at his prime, with the UK Singles Chart of today which I have just started to follow again. Because we consume our music so differently nowadays with downloads and streaming rather than purely physical copies counting towards “sales”, it can look very different. Last year the UK Top 10 was awash with hits from the smash Netflix animated film Kpop Demon Hunters, and for the last two weeks the actor/singer/songwriter Joe Keery/Djo (the handsome Steve Harrington from Netflix’s Stranger Things) has secured the top spot in the Singles Chart with his song End of Beginning.
Last week I was more fixated on my blog’s anniversary to dive deeper into the effect Stranger Things has had on music charts, but now I have, and I will share it with you. For anyone who hasn’t watched Stranger things yet, why not? It’s a drama set in the 1980s, centred on a group of young people from the fictional small town of Hawkins, Indiana. A nearby secretive government research facility experiments on children, and after a young girl called Eleven with psychokinetic powers inadvertently creates a wormhole known as the Upside Down, it connects Earth to a hostile realm. It blends investigative drama with supernatural horror, and references the popular culture of the ’80s. The final episode, of the final season, aired on New Year’s Day here in the UK and after an emotional ending where this little gang of misfits saved the world, the song used for the end credits was David Bowie’sHeroes, suggested by Joe Keery himself.
Because of it’s inclusion in this top rated show, Heroes is now back in the UK Singles Chart along with other relevant songs like Diana Ross’sUpside Down. The soundtrack contains some of the biggest hits of the 1980s and they have been propelled back to fame, the biggest success story being the Kate Bush song Running Up That Hill used to great effect in Season 4 (written about here). After 37 years she finally reached the No. 1 spot in 2022. In Season 5, one of the characters is given a cassette tape with Tiffany’sI Think We’re Alone Now and yes, you’ve guessed it, it’s back in the UK Singles Chart.
I think We’re Alone Now by Tiffany:
Other songs used on the S5 soundtrack are as follows:
When Doves Cry by Prince
Purple Rain by Prince
Landslide by Fleetwood Mac
Here Comes Your Man by Pixies
The Trooper by Iron Maiden
Sweet Jane by Cowboy Junkies
Rockin’ Robin by Michael Jackson (The Jackson 5 version also featured)
Fernando by ABBA
Pretty in Pink by The Psychedelic Furs
I have just checked and eight songs are now back in the current Singles Chart because of Stranger Things, but although I said such lists look very different nowadays because of these popular Netflix shows, maybe it’s selective memory coming into play. I seem to remember in the summer of 1978 most of the songs in the charts were either from the film Saturday Night Fever or Grease (it was a John Travolta summer). Likewise, our Saturday evening cop shows often threw up a hit or two from the stars involved – I’m looking at you David Soul and also you Telly Savalas. Even our own home grown shows could generate successful top-selling artists once Mr Cowell got his hands on them – Robson & Jerome anyone? Maybe things haven’t changed all that much after all.
I Think We’re Alone Now was written and composed by Ritchie Cordell and first recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells. The song was originally written as a romantic ballad, but when James and Cordell recorded a quick demo, they made the song faster. Tommy James later wrote: “Ritchie originally wrote the song as a mid-tempo ballad. I said no way and started speeding it up. I put on a nasally, almost juvenile-sounding lead vocal, and without realizing it, we invented “bubblegum” music.”
Until next time…
I Think We’re Alone Now Lyrics (Song by Ritchie Cordell)
Children behave That’s what they say when we’re together And watch how you play They don’t understand
And so we’re running just as fast as we can Holdin’ on to one another’s hand Tryin’ to get away into the night And then you put your arms around me And we tumble to the ground And then you say
I think we’re alone now There doesn’t seem to be anyone around I think we’re alone now The beating of our hearts is the only sound
Look at the way We gotta hide what we’re doin’ ‘Cause what would they say If they ever knew?
And so we’re running just as fast as we can Holdin’ on to one another’s hand Tryin’ to get away into the night And then you put your arms around me And we tumble to the ground And then you say
I think we’re alone now (alone now) There doesn’t seem to be anyone around I think we’re alone now (alone now) The beating of our hearts is the only sound
I think we’re alone now (alone now) There doesn’t seem to be anyone around I think we’re alone now The beating of our hearts is the only sound
Well, I didn’t know if I could do it but I have timed things to perfection and this will be my 500th post, just ahead of this blog’s 10th birthday, which is tomorrow. 500 posts in 10 years won’t seem like a lot to some of the daily bloggers, but my efforts are usually quite long, require a fair bit of research, and at times I’ve been MIA (regular followers know why), so I’m quite chuffed with myself. Of course the fact I wrote 100 posts in my first 10 months of blogging shows that I’ve really slowed down over the years, but 50 posts per year seems like a good average to me. I hope to get an achievement badge from the WordPress people once I press the publish button on this one, and a birthday badge tomorrow!
I started this blog, by coincidence, the day we heard the news that David Bowie had died, so it was inevitable my first post would feature him. I had planned to write about “music and memories” – pick a song from my past and write about what life was like back then, with a few musical anecdotes thrown in. The decade I was most invested in chart music was the 1970s, as anyone born right at the start of the ’60s will probably agree. The songs you listen to then stay with you for life, and in a Pop Quiz, I am the expert on the Top 30 for those years.
And so it came to pass, on day one of the blog, I was writing a tribute for one of the few true icons (that word is used far too loosely nowadays) this country has ever produced. It didn’t take long for me to realise this would become a pattern as if I was getting older, my pop idols of the ’70s would be getting even older. David Bowie died of cancer, on this day in 2016 at the relatively young age of 69. We didn’t ever have to watch him get really old and infirm which is a bit of a blessing, and right up until his death he was still crowned the best-dressed Briton in history. I’m sure, however, his family would have liked to have had him around for a lot longer.
The very first song I shared around here was therefore Life On Mars? and I have pretty much shared a Bowie song every year since on this date. The film for Life On Mars? (we didn’t yet call them videos) still looks pretty avant-garde today, 53 years on. This leads me to believe I was born at just the right time for a life-long fascination with the theatre, frills and falderals of pop music. In the 1960s we watched our favourite pop stars in black and white, and in the main, especially on UK prime time telly, they were dressed fairly conservatively – men in suits and women in those evening dresses that looked a bit like nighties. It was starting to change at the tail end of the decade but once we started to watch them in colour at the start of the 1970s, glam rock had really taken hold in Britain, and boy were we in for a treat. David Bowie was definitely the most flamboyant but we also had T. Rex, Sweet, Slade and Roxy Music. What a great time to be entering our teenage years and I know many of my blogging pals still hold those years very dear indeed.
Life On Mars? by David Bowie:
Here is something I haven’t mentioned before – last summer I started following the Official UK Charts again, and I get an email every Friday at 6pm telling me what’s changed since the week before. As the months have gone by I’ve become familiar with the runners and riders, but because we consume our music so differently nowadays, via streaming mainly, the charts are nothing like the ones my friends and I used to follow with avid interest in our teens. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the Top 10 was hogged by only three artists, Taylor Swift (with three songs from her The Life of a Showgirl album), Olivia Dean (with three songs from her The Art of Loving album) and three songs from the stars of the animated film, KPop Demon Hunters (the most watched film in Netflix history). The song Golden stayed at the top spot for weeks in the autumn of last year, performed by the fictional, animated, K-pop girl group Huntrix (the first time this had happened since the Archies achieved the same feat in 1969 with Sugar, Sugar).
I don’t think K-pop is really for my generation (you don’t say!) but for the youngsters of today, it seems all pervasive. During the month of December the Top 10 stayed pretty much the same with Wham!’s song at the top spot, Mariah Carey as runner-up and the usual suspects filling the other slots (all songs from 40-60 years ago). Now we are into the new year we’ve had a song that’s been sitting around the Top 10 for quite a while finally reach the top spot (Raye’sWhere Is My Husband!), and yesterday I got an email telling me that it had been replaced by someone called Djo. Who the heck is that I thought, and blow me down, if it isn’t the musical moniker of Stranger Things actor Joe Keery, aka the handsome Steve Harrington. His song End of Beginning was originally released in 2022 and has hovered around the lower rungs of the chart since then, but with Season 5 just having ended his fan base have taken to streaming his song in big numbers. Another Netflix show that has influenced our UK Singles Chart. Here is Joe/Djo with his song.
Well I don’t know about you, but I think the Top 10 of my teenage years was far more innovative and interesting, with big change happening every week. In the interests of research however I will keep tabs on things and give all of you who would rather poke your eye out with a sharp stick than listen to the current Top 10, an update!
I didn’t really expect my 500th post to go this way but I often don’t know what I’m going to write about until I sit down at my computer. The really great thing that’s happened since I started this game 10 years ago, is that I’ve made an awful lot of new like-minded friends, both virtual and in the real world, which I certainly didn’t expect. There are regular features I join in with, like Rol’s Saturday Snapshots, John’s Photo Challenge and Ernie’s Pun Fun. We’ve had four quite big BlogCons in cities all over the UK and a fair few mini meetups with two or three bloggers. It’s not how we made new friends in the old days, but it’s how things happen nowadays, so maybe I shouldn’t be so dismissive of how the teens of today operate.
I’m definitely going to keep going, and if I’m spared I’ll aim for another 500 posts in 10 years. Whether blogging and WordPress will still be around at that point is anyone’s guess, but I hope it survives in some form.
To end, I really think I should share something else by David Bowie on this, the anniversary of his death. Here he is singing 1977’s Heroes [starts at 1:00] at Live Aid in 1985. There is no bright blue eye-shadow this time, but just like in the film above, his hair is tinged with red and he is sporting a well-cut pale blue suit – an homage I suspect. I still have my copy of Words magazine from when the song Heroes was released and back then they wrote, “Of all our current top rock stars, David Bowie is the one most likely to remain a major musical force decades hence… .” And they continue, “Listening to this [Heroes], you realise that Bowie’s strength and durability lies in the fact he refuses to fit neatly into any specific category. He will constantly surprise even his most dedicated followers, while maintaining an unvarying high quality of performance.” They weren’t wrong.
Heroes by David Bowie:
Until next time…
Heroes Lyrics (Song by David Bowie/Brian Eno)
I, I will be king And you, you will be queen Though nothing, will drive them away We can beat them, just for one day We can be heroes, just for one day
And you, you can be mean And I, I’ll drink all the time ‘Cause we’re lovers, and that is a fact Yes, we’re lovers, and that is that
Though nothing, will keep us together We could steal time, just for one day We can be heroes, forever and ever What’d you say?
I, I wish you could swim Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim Though nothing, nothing will keep us together We can beat them, forever and ever Oh, we can be heroes, just for one day
I, I will be king And you, you will be queen Though nothing will drive them away We can be heroes, just for one day We can be us, just for one day
I, I can remember (I remember) Standing, by the wall (by the wall) And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads) And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall) And the shame, was on the other side
Oh, we can beat them, forever and ever Then we could be heroes, just for one day We can be heroes We can be heroes We can be heroes Just for one day
We can be heroes We’re nothing, and nothing will help us Maybe we’re lying, then you better not stay But we could be safer, just for one day Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
Postscript
I did get my achievement badge for publishing 500 posts so have edited it in above. Yeah me.
Welcome to this occasional series where I am attempting a virtual journey around the 50 States of America in song. For anyone new to this place, I have a continuous route map where I enter and leave each state only once. Suggestions for the next leg always welcome!
Well, I’ve been stuck in Delaware since the summer of 2024, but now I’m ready to pick up my route and the next state I’m heading into is Maryland.
Maryland was founded by the 1st Baron Baltimore and it’s most populous city was named after him. Looking at a map of Maryland, it’s a markedly “watery” state, with Chesapeake Bay cutting right through its middle. Its western section contains stretches of the Appalachians and the central part of the state is mainly farmland. National Geographic once dubbed Maryland, “America in Miniature,” due to the fact that nearly every kind of terrain can be found there.
In 1790, the national capital was moved from Philadelphia to land in Maryland selected by the first President George Washington for the creation of the federal government. The land donated was along the north shore of the Potomac River and became Washington DC. The majority of Maryland’s population is concentrated in the cities and suburbs surrounding Washington DC, and in and around Baltimore. Maryland has the highest median household income of any state, owing mainly to its proximity to Washington, D.C., and a highly diversified economy spanning manufacturing, retail services, public administration, real estate, higher education, information technology, defense contracting, health care, and biotechnology.
There are still strong maritime traditions in the Chesapeake Bay area and the state food is the serving up of blue crabs with Old Bay Seasoning. Maryland has a very distinctive state flag with the Calvert (black/gold) and Crossland (red/white) family coats of arms. The Baltimore Oriole is the state bird, inspiring the name of the baseball team. Johns Hopkins University, the world famous research institution is in Baltimore.
As for film and television, the musical Hairspray follows Baltimore teenager Tracy Turnblad’s dream to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance programme. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight, leading to social change as Tracy campaigns for the show’s integration.
The crime drama The Wire is one of the best things we ever watched on television. The idea for the show started out as a police drama loosely based on the experiences of a former homicide detective and public school teacher. Set and produced in Baltimore, The Wire introduced a different institution of the city and its relationship to law enforcement in each season.
As for celebrities who hail from Maryland, the swimmer Michael Phelps is one as is the actress Goldie Hawn. In the world of music we have the great Billie Holiday as well as Tori Amos, David Byrne and Toni Braxton.
But what song can I share that refers to the state of Maryland? As it turns out the song Moonlight Feels Right by Starbuck has been shared around here before as part of another series, but it does mention Chesapeake Bay so it’s a perfect candidate. It was never a hit in the UK, so although I know the song well it must be from hearing it on the radio over the years. It was however a big hit in the US, Canada and Australia, so I wonder why it didn’t strike a cord over here. To me it just screams 1976 America (as we called it back then), and reminds me of another song from across the pond I also like from that year. Yes, one of the very first songs I ever wrote about around here was I’d Really Love To See You Tonight by England Dan & John Ford Coley. In Scotland, even during a heatwave, it is never warm after dark, so back in 1976 I just loved the idea of those “warm winds blowin’ the stars around”. Likewise, in Moonlight…, we are painted a picture of warm summer evenings by the coast, with the moon and stars shining brightly in the night sky.
I’ll take you on a trip beside the ocean And drop the top at Chesapeake Bay Ain’t nothin’ like the sky to dose a potion The moon’ll send you on your way
You say you came to Baltimore from Ole Miss Class of seven-four, gold ring The eastern moon looks ready for a wet kiss To make the tide rise again
Moonlight Feels Right by Starbuck:
It’s from a long time ago now, but when I wrote about Delaware and mentioned I’d be heading into Maryland next, I did get one song suggestion from Khayem. He wrote:
Try searching The Divine Comedy and Maryland on YouTube and you should find it easily…
I did search and the song he refers to is this one, Maryland Electric Rainstorm, from their 1998 album End Of The Century/Fin de Siècle.
A new road, when on an old man’s bad advice He left to cross the woods, but just Got totally lost, and then The Maryland electric rainstorm broke Over his head, making him wet, upset, then The Maryland electric rainstorm broke everything Soaked through his skin, into his heart and soul
So there we have it, a whistle stop tour of Maryland and not many songs shared. Next time I’ll be heading into West Virginia and I already know that state will throw up a fair few tunes. Please do add your suggestions to the comments boxes if you have any.
Until next time…
Moonlight Feels Right Lyrics (Song by Bruce Blackman)
The wind blew some luck in my direction I caught it in my hands today I finally made a tricky French connection You winked and gave me your O.K. I’ll take you on a trip beside the ocean And drop the top at Chesapeake Bay Ain’t nothing like the sky to dose a potion The moon’ll send you on your way
Moonlight feels right Moonlight feels right
We’ll lay back and observe the constellations And watch the moon smilin’ bright I’ll play the radio on southern stations ‘Cause southern belles are hell at night You say you came to Baltimore from Ole Miss Class of seven-four, gold ring The eastern moon looks ready for a wet kiss To make the tide rise again
Moonlight feels right Moonlight feels right
We’ll see the sun come up on Sunday morning And watch it fade the moon away I guess you know I’m giving you a warning ‘Cause me and moon are itching to play I’ll take you on a trip beside the ocean And drop the top at Chesapeake Bay Ain’t nothin’ like the sky to dose a potion The moon’ll send you on your way
What's It All About? 