June Music Blogathon - Day 13

So this time I'm on the wrong list, but fear not, as well as this one that I had planned, I shall shortly also post the one that everyone else is posting today.

A Song That Fits My Personality

Well, this is a difficult category. There was a quote I saw the other day - Personality is what you are like when no-one else is looking. Maybe that is your true personality but I think I spend more time with my public persona. Those who read my blog, particularly way back, probably know more of the true me than many of my "real" friends. I know that's the same for many bloggers. There is a sense of security online that you don't have in realworld. That of course can be taken to extremes when Facebook is used to chronicle every little thing because you forget it is in the public domain. However I am getting off topic.

When things are going wrong and you are having a tough time you can't always show it. And for much of my adult life I have worked in sales and you learn, as you do with acting, and there are many parallels, that no matter what happens you switch on the smile when you start working. I have had two occasions when I have been very near to breakdown and had to reach out and ring a doorbell when you aren't sure you can do it. The song I have therefore chosen to day is from the opera I Pagliacci. He plays a man who is a clown in a show. His personal life is falling apart and he is going to pieces but there he is, with all sorts of stuff going on, but it is time to put on the make-up and smile....

The famous aria Vesti La Giubba performed by Jose Carreras

June Music Blogathon - Day 12

A Song That No-one Would Expect Me To Love

Most of my friends know I have such an eclectic taste in music that there probably isn't anything that would suprise them so I am picking a track from two different genres that aren't normally associated with me.

Although my faith in their being a deity is a little on the low side, I did grow up in the church choir and became a server. I sometimes go to church and when I di, it is a well known fact that I like traditional hymns and none of this happy clappy rubbish which is meant to appeal to young people. Obviously, not that I am. It's just that I'd rather listen to thrash metal. There have been a couple of "christian" singles in the charts over the years that I've liked, none of which were by Sir Cliff, although I didn't mind his verion of Little Town of Bethlehem. One I can think of is What if God was one of us by Joan Osborne, linked just in case you don't recognise it.

I also like a bit of country music, mainly some of the old stuff but not averse to new as well. But then you knoe that, I just picked Dolly & Kenny yesterday.

So today I am combining the two subjects and coming up with a country hymn based on a gospel song. I discovered it on a country music compilation of lesser known works and singers and I'll normally play it and skip back for another listen and a sing along. It's catchy, foot tapping and sing-a-long happiness.

Why, I almost want to mosey on down to the good Lord's house and have me my fill of his goodness!

Standing on the Promises by Jeanne Pruett

June Music Blogathon - Day 11

A Song That Is a Guilty Pleasure

I have a few I could put in for this category which is a bit worrying. The one I have gone for I always enjoy singing along to and is also the Magnificent M and my choice for a Karaoke duet. To admit that I sing along to this record or perform it in public brings looks of increduity, disdain or elicits a bout of laughter implying how anyone liking this could possibly show their face in public. Just for once I have little more to say other then grab a hairbrush and sing along to

Islands In The Stream - Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton

And just for the record I sing the Kenny Rogers Part!

Well, most times I do....

June Music Blogathon - Day 10

A Song From A Band That I Hate

To be fair I'm not sure there are any bands that I hate, although I'll probably think of some after today. But there is one band that I think are incredibly over-rated and I can't stand all the adulation they get.

It's those lovable mop-tops, the Fab Four, in other words, The Beatles.

It doesn't help that I can't stand the Liverpool accent.

The way people go on about them you would think they had invented music. People go on about how they were the first group to do this, that, the other. But just because they might have been the first to do something doesn't mean they were any good.

And what about all the teenagers and twenty-somethings who think the Beatle were the greatest band ever. Why. I've never heard anybody who didn't live through the 60s actually give a reasoned argument, even if I don't agree. My suspicion is that all these youngsters like them due to an outbreak of Emperors New Clothes.

I don't think they were particularly talented. I don't think Paul McCartney really appealed until he started Wings. Ringo is a bit of a non-entity. George did some really interesting stuff post-Beatles and for God's sake don't get me started on John Lennon. He will be appearing in another category later on, and it isn't the "my all time favourite song" one.

When I do music quizzes if there is going to be one big gaping hole, it will be any questions to do with them.

If I got near to enjoying anything they did, it would be Sgt Pepper.

So do I go with one of the songs I hate, or one that I can at least listen to.

I've decided on the latter. So here is what I think is probably their best song from my perspective.

A Day In The Life

I could have gone with She's Leaving Home which I rate about the same level.

If I had to choose second in line it would have been their tribute act, Oasis.

June Music Blogathon - Day 9

A Song From My Favourite Band.

How do you decide who your favourite band are? It changes virtually from minute to minute and depending on mood. Then, will the next album be better or worse than the average? That's the sort of thing that would have kept me awake all last night if I hadn't been silently singing the song that I gave as an answer some hours ago.

So, I narrowed down the band by thinking of records that have been played often, despite their age. Have I bothered to see them live? Yes, in this case, and possibly the best gig I have ever been to as a spectacle. And then I chose a track that I never tire of listening to.

I have liked the Electric Light Orchestra from the beginning. I remember 10538 Overture being released and the mix of "rock" music and string arrangements, particularly the heavy use of cello, and I was hooked. Jeff Lynne's vocals are always good as are his lyrics. I suppose they are middle of the road in many ways but I don't care. And then, 40 years ago next year, (where the hell did all those years go!), they released the LP, "Out of the Blue". Kenny Everett had a copy on release day and played it through twice, back to back, on his radio programme on Capital. Not something that could happen these days in the era of playlists. And for me, the standout track. Wild West Hero. I saw them live at Wembley in 1978, the picture below from one of the eight nights they sold Wembley Arena out for, the first group ever to do that. And Jeff Lynne is a vastly underrated musician and producer, or at least with the public. Within the trade he is highly thought of.

Three years ago I wrote and directed a revue show for the musical theatre company I was with. It had a wild west theme. One of our group had arranged Mr Blue Sky, from the same album, for a previous concert, as a four part chorus number, so I got her to do the same for Wild West Hero. It was the last song played in the first half and I had one of our young male leads to start and end the song. At the start of the second half we had a silent film I wrote and directed in which he starred as a wild west hero. I doubt I'll get the chance to do something like that again.

Wild West Hero



As we appear to have diverged a bit as there were two differing lists of subjects to follow perhaps I should have chosen this track instead.

Humph!

Having got my music post all ready for today, it turns out the list compiled a couple of months back is in a different order to the one listed just before the start. You will have to wait until this evening for todays offering. Is there a song to fit the personality of someone disgruntled?

June Music Blogathon - Day 8

A Song That Makes Me Fall Asleep.

The glib answer would be - pretty much anything by Yes. I tried to get into Prog Rock, and my brother would have Yes playing regularly but I never gelled with it.

The song I have decided to go with might make me go to sleep but I think it is really meant to liven things up in the bedroom department and it would certainly be top, or near the top, of my slow dance choices. I think it might be my age! I find it's like wrapping myself up in a big duvet and stretching out like a well-fed cat. Certainly, if I am having trouble going to sleep, I just run this in my head and I drift off on a fluffy cloud of contentment.

Sometimes I really worry about myself!

Todays Choice?

Move Closer - Phyllis Nelson

June Music Blogathon - Day 7

A Song That I Can Dance To

Once upon a time, in my prime, I would have been able to link to Memphis Soul Stew by King Curtis. My mates and I had a particularly energetic routine based on the moves you see whenever you watch Northern Soul clips. Alas, my ageing knees preclude me from reliving those heady days, the only consolation being that none of those friends can manage it these days either.

My choice therefore has to be something a little more sedate. And it's a song from 23 years ago. Blimey, doesn't time fly! It's by Sannie Charlotte Carlson, although that isn't her stage name. She provided one of those cheesy europop songs that had a group dance to it. And dance I did. And still do when I get the chance.

Saturday Night by Whigfield

June Music Blogathon - Day 6

A Song That I Know All The Words To

If I have to stand up and perform a chart song, I think the only one I would stand a chance of doing would be Bohemian Rhapsody. Where I do have a bank of songs where I know the words are in shows I have taken part in. One of my favourite is from Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience, their satire on the Aesthetic Movement. Although I didn't sing this song I did learn it as I particularly liked it. I played Major Murgatroyd whom, along with two of his other officer friends, decide to become aesthetes as all the women had gone off military men and taken to swooning over poets and artists. It is dressed in his aesthetic garb that I occasionally appear online on various sites.

However, todays song is sung by Bunthorne, the lead character. Sit back and enjoy the word play of

If You're Anxious For To Shine.

June Music Blogathon - Day 5

A Song That Reminds Me Of An Event.

The year is 1977. And it's the August Bank Holiday weekend. Me and my girlfriend, Gail, have decided to go away for the weekend to spend our first night together. Not only is it our first night together but another first, to use a phrase which shouldn't frighten the women or horses, a night in which I arrived as a boy and left as a man. It is the only time in my life I have visited Herne Bay. I managed to find a hotel to stay in although it was actually a pub that had rooms to let and it wasn't the world's highest quality resting place, but it's a special place to me.

I married that there Gail in 1979, but for a number of reasons we ended up apart some 3 years later in 1982.

The year is now 1990 and I drive for a living, some 2000 miles a week, so go through vast numbers of cd's borrowed from the librry as I travel around the country. I listened to all sorts of stuff including artists I woud never has chosen if I hadn't had so much listening time on my hands. Amongst the thousands of tracks I ploughed through was this one, by someone I would never expected to listen to, singing about a hotel with the same name as that in Herne Bay and with a sentiment I could relate to.

Todays offering is -

The Railway Hotel by Mike Batt

Mike Batt

June Music Blogathon - Day 4

A song that reminds me of somewhere.

Really I should be choosing a song to celebrate it being one year today since we arrived here in Loupia. But as of yet there is no song associated with our new home.

So it's another easy choice, and there isn't a cryptic link between the song and where it reminds me of as the title is the place name.

My Dad got remarried in 1985(?) out in Texas and we went out for the wedding. That's the only time I have ever been to the US. We were based in Houston. We had a hire car and one day we went for a drive down the coast and visited the subject of the song. Everytime I hear it now I remember that journey and the town itself.

Today's Choice is

Galveston - Glenn Campbell

June Music Blogathon - Day 3

A Song That Reminds Me Of Someone

Well I guess I could have gone with either of yesterdays tunes but I haven't.

Like many people I link certain records to certain girlfriends :

Me & Mrs Jones - Lesley Naylor
Close to You - Carole Lacey
If You Don't Know Me By Now - Cathy Bartellot
Eight Days a Week - Some girl up in Burnt Oak I can't remember the name of.
And others besides...

But in the end I have gone for a record which reminds me of my brother. There were many I could have gone for as he introduced me to Bowie, outside of the singles, and also Led Zeppelin although that never really gelled with me. But this song isn't so much something that reminds me of him for his influence, but a song that reminds me that, although I was desperate for a sister, in the end having a brother was pretty special.

From his first eponymous album I present for you......

The Greatest Discovery

Junee Music Blogathon Day 2

A Song That Makes Me Sad.

Well this was so much easier that a song that makes me happy. Not sure if a psychologist would have a field day with that.

I had a runner up song. "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen", the famous version being by Cavan O'Connor I think. Kathleen was my maternal Grandmother's name and was the most important figure for me when growing up. She died when I was 15 and I seemed to lose some of my drive, particularly at school, when she had gone. It's a saddish song but made more so for the personal circumstances.

However, as I say, the choice was not going to be difficult.

Les Miserables is my favourite musical. And no, it isn't a connection between sad and miserable! I think it's some of the best theatre music ever written. But despite being a bit of a sad story it is one of the songs in it that can reduce me to tears for my personal circumstances.

On My Own is sung in the show by a girl who has been childhood friends with a local boy and she has held out the hope that they would be together and more than the friends they have been. He, however, falls in love with someone else and she sings of her unrequieted love for him. When I broke up with Linda it was this song that seemed to fit her circumstances and what she wanted deep down. The circumstances being different but the sentiment the same. It came up the first time for me on the day she was admitted to the local mental hospital. Having been her main carer for so many years she entered the doors and for the first time in 30 years we were seperate. That evening I was taking part in a concert which included a medley of Les Mis songs, this being one of them, athough as a chorus member rather than a soloist. Luckily I think my brain cut out a bit and the concert went fine but I would find it difficult to sing this now.

It's been rather hard checking the versions to link to as I find it so hard to listen to.

And in fact I'm linking to it twice.

Lea Salonga took the original role of Epernine. Of the two, she has the more accomplished voice. If you want the vocals then this is the verion for you.

Samantha Barks played Epernine in the film that was released a few years back. (I enjoyed the film as well). Because you see the context and scenery it perhaps detracts from her singing performance but enhances her acting and seems to have more emotion.

I hope you enjoy watching one or both, but I won't be joining you. It's made me sad enough for the time being. And maybe the said psychologist could have a field day analysing the link of music with guilt.

June Music Blogathon - Day 1

A Song That Makes Me Happy.

Well, this is a difficult start as first of all you have to have a philosophical discussion about what happiness is.....

It was a difficult choice though. There are plenty of songs I like to listen to, but do they make me happy?

There are songs that bring back a time and occasion when you were happy but are they making you happy now or just nostalgic?

I think I have got a song in mind that means a lot of things to me on different levels.

I grew up with Glam Rock, enjoyed my time as a New Romantic in the early 80s, but I have never been jealous of other musical genres to the point that I wished I could be young again to experience it as it should be. Or that was the case until Dance music hit the scene. I like Dance music, understand exactly how the 120 and 140bpm music resonates with the body, and it strikes me as happy music. I suppose that's why there was a sub genre of Happy House. If I was ever going to take drugs it would have been ecstacy, to increase the heart rate to match 120/140bpm. For the first time, I "got" drugs.

But for a short period I was able to be part of that world. When I went to Blackpool for the weekend with my mates, when Dance was at it's peak, I could go clubbing and immerse my self in it. There was one club I would always go to. Heaven and Hell. Heaven played the more commercial chart type dance music whilst Hell was into Trance and Techno. I spent many a happy hour in Hell just being immersed in the beat. Old enough to be wise to the fact I shouldn't actually dance I would just stand there and enjoy being part of the experience.

The song I am choosing reminds me of that time, it could have been played in either part of the club but my favourite memory of it was in Hell, with smoke machines and strobe lighting.

If I hear it now it does make me feel happy and I'm not averse to bouncing along to it as I drive and trying hard not to "throw some shapes" as the younger generation probably never say anymore.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you - Castles In The Sky : Ian Van Dahl

PS - Apologies. I don't have the technical knowhow of how to embed the video and as they will all come off Youtube probably you might have to suffer an advert first. I just hope you don't prefer the adverts to my musical choices!

June Music Blogathon - Intro

Introduction & why I’ve done this challenge in this way.

So, courtesy of Brennig it's time for the second month long blogging challenge of the year. (Note to self - Think of one for October and there will be three nicely spaced out over the year).

I'm sure others will have incredibly clever ideas on how to do this challenge but for me I'm sticking to the tried and tested, explaining my choice and then linking to the music itself.

One thing that has become apparent in choosing the music is that I could have probably chosen 20 pieces for each one and all of them would mean something special.

Hopefully you will find something new to you and hopefully something you like amongst the more better known choices. Who knows, you might even end up with an earworm or two.

A Change is Gonna Come

Prepare yourselves! Tomorrow heralds the month long music blog. From few posts to myriad. It's like Feb all over again but different.

Wrong Again.

Following up the last paragraph of my last post, I was wrong. I haven't and I didn't.

The wedding was great though.

Travel Time

Heading off to Carassonne airport. Will be in York by this evening to prepare ourselves for the Magnificent Ms eldest daughters wedding on Thursday. Hopefully the infection in my jaw which makes me look like a hamster will be sorted by photos at the wedding! Back in France on April 4th with my mummy in tow.

There will be posts in the meantime because I'll have the time and no doubt much to tell.

Messing About On The River

Honestly, the French will call their boats absolutely anything!

Beware the Ides of March

I studied Latin at school. When I say I studied Latin, what I mean is that I was sat in a classroom wondering what the hell they were on about whilst others were actually sat there studying it. Unfortunately on the day I had to decide which subjects to choose for O'Levels I decided to give up Music, the only subject I was ever really likely to do well in, for Latin, on the whim that that particular day I decided I was going to be a dentist and Latin might be useful.

I remember only a few things. I can decline the verb Amo, to love. amo amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant along with two other tenses, amabo and amabam, but I don't know what tenses they are. Still, it's something. The other thing I know is that the Ides of each month are the middle days and that includes the 15th. Including March which was one of the ten months they bothered with. Including the year 44bc. And that was the day, 2060 years ago today, that Julius Caeser should perhaps have taken a bit more notice as to what was going on.

Perhaps between 1970 and 1973 I should have been taking a bit more notice of what was going on in class.