RIP 2016

PLAY IN MIXCLOUD BY CLICKING PICTURES

01 2016_03_10 Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Fanfare For The Common Man (Keith Emerson AND Greg Lake)
02 2016_03_17 Cliff Michelmore Interviews - David Bowie (Tonight 1964)
03 2016_01_10 David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes
04 2016_04_21 Prince - 1999
05 2016_10_23 (Pete Burns) Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
06 2016_02_04 Maurice White (from Earth Wind & Fire) - September
07 2016_01_18 Glenn Frey - The Heat Is On
08 2016_02_15 Vanity - Under The Influence
09 2016_04_05 Leon Haywood - Don't Push It, Don't Force It
10 2016_04_24 Billy Paul - Thanks For Saving My Life
11 2016_11_25 Colonel Abrams - Trapped
12 2016_10_05 Rod Temperton Beatwagon - Never Too Late To Start
13 2016_01_08 Otis Clay - The Only Way Is Up
14 2016_07_21 (Lewie Steinberg - Bassist) Booker T & The MGs - Green Onions
15 2016_08_22 Toots Thielemans - Bluesette
15a 2016_01_09 Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart - Spot Was Not Like The Rest
16 2016_01_31 Terry Wogan - The Floral Dance
17 2016_10_21 Dave Cash - 1971 Radio Show
18 2016_03_16 Frank Sinatra Jr - Family Guy Medley
19 2016_11_03 Kay Starr - Rock And Roll Waltz
20 2016_03_10 Gogi Grant - Wayward Wind
21 2016_04_11 Emile Ford & The Checkmates - What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For
22 2016_12_12 Jim Lowe - The Green Door
23 2016_10_24 Bobby Vee - Rubber Ball
23a 2016_11_23 Andrew Sachs (Manuel from Fawlty Towers) - Leonardo Da Thingy

24 2016_11_11 (Robert Vaughn) Man from U N C L E Opening and Closing Theme
25 2016_04_19 Lord Tanamo - I'm In The Mood For Love
26 2016_03_18 Ned Miller - From A Jack To A King
27 2016_09_25 Jean Shepard - A Dear John Letter (with Ferlin Husky)
28 2016_11_15 Mose Allison - Young Man s Blues
29 2016_04_06 Merle Haggard - Okie From Muskogee
30 2016_11_07 Jimmy Young - Unchained Melody
31 2016_01_07 Kitty Kallen - Little Things Mean A Lot
32 2016_07_24 Marni Nixon - I Could Have Danced All Night (from My Fair Lady)
33 2016_08_29 Gene Wilder - Imagination Medley
34 2016_02_12 George Tipton - Soap
35 2016_03_24 It's Garry Shandling's Show
36 2016_10_23 (Jimmy Perry) Bud Flanagan - Dad's Army (Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Hitler)
37 2016_11_09 Al Caiola - The Magnificent Seven
38 2016_06_12 Janet Waldo - Perils of Penelope Pitstop
39 2016_03_31 Ronnie Corbett - Fanny
40 2016_02_28 Frank Kelly (from Father Ted) - Charlie Stepped In
41 2016_06_03 Dave Swarbrick - Once I Loved a Maiden Fair
42 2016_01_30 Frank Finlay - Casanova
43 2016_01_26 Black - Wonderful Life
44 2016_12_18 Zsa Zsa Gabor on Dame Edna
45 2016_04_20 Victoria Wood ~ The Ballad Of Barry & Freda (aka Let's Do It)
46 2016_07_02 Caroline Aherne - Debbie McGee on Mrs Merton
47 2016_10_02 (Sir Neville Marriner) Academy of St. Martin in the Fields - Gymnopedie No 3 (Satie)
48 2016_03_17 Paul Daniels - I Don't Feel Grumpy
49 2016_12_06 Peter Vaughan - Game Of Thrones Extract
50 2016_03_15 Sylvia Anderson - Parker, Well Done
51 2016_04_21 Lonnie Mack - Memphis
52 2016_06_28 Scotty Moore - Mean Woman Blues
53 2016_07_16 Alan Vega - Jukebox Babe
54 2016_09_24 Buckwheat Zydeco - Marie, Marie
55 2016_05_28 Floyd Robinson - Makin' Love


56 2016_08_06 Pete Fountain - Ja Da
57 2016_05_02 (Paul McDowell) Temperance Seven - You're Driving Me Crazy
58 2016_09_17 Charmian Carr - Sixteen Going On Seventeen (with Dan Truhitte and Julie Andrews)
59 2016_11_07 Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
60 2016_03_08 George Martin - Scrambled Egg
61 2016_04_13 Gareth Thomas - Blakes 7 The Lost Interviews
62 2016_08_13 Kenny Baker as R2d2 - Star Wars Dubstep Remix
63 2016_05_05 Isao Tomita - Golliwog's Cakewalk
64 2016_01_14 Alan Rickman - Intelligence
65 2016_05_31 Carla Lane - Cow (with Linda McCartney)
66 2016_01_28 Jefferson Airplane - Tobacco Road (Signe Toly Anderson AND Paul Kantner)
67 2016_03_30 Thunderclap Newman - Something In The Air
68 2016_11_13 Leon Russell - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
69 2016_02_19 Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird Interview
70 2016_12_24 (Richard Adams) Art Garfunkel - Bright Eyes
71 2016_08_07 Ruby Winters - I Will
72 2016_06_27 Sir Mack Rice - Muhammad Ali
73 2016_06_03 Cassius Clay (Muhummad Ali) - I Am The Greatest
74 2016_05_24 Burt Kwouk - Hey Little Hen
75 2016_09_08 Prince Buster - Madness
76 2016_06_17 Tenor Fly - Bright Side Of Life
77 2016_09_21 John D Loudermilk - Language Of Love
78 2016_10_14 Jean Alexander as Hilda Ogden
79 2016_12_27 Carrie Fisher - Princess Leia's Life Day song
80 2016_12_24 Rick Parfitt from Status Quo - Rockin'  All Over The World
81 2016_12_25 George Michael - Faith
82 2016_12_28 Debbbie Reynolds - Tammy


By Date...

2016_01_07 - Kitty Kallen

2016_01_08 - Otis Clay

2016_01_09 - Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart

2016_01_10 - David Bowie

2016_01_14 - Alan Rickman

2016_01_18 - Glenn Frey

2016_01_26 - Black

2016_01_28 - Signe Toly Anderson and Paul Kantner (BOTH from Jefferson Airplane)

2016_01_30 - Frank Finlay

2016_01_31 - Terry Wogan

2016_02_04 - Maurice White (from Earth Wind & Fire)

2016_02_12 - George Tipton

2016_02_15 - Vanity

2016_02_19 - Harper Lee (author of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’)

2016_02_28 - Frank Kelly (from ‘Father Ted’)

2016_03_08 - George Martin

2016_03_10 - Keith Emerson (from ELP)

2016_03_10 - Gogi Grant

2016_03_15 - Sylvia Anderson (voice of Lady Penelope)

2016_03_16 - Frank Sinatra Jr

2016_03_17 - Cliff Michelmore

2016_03_17 - Paul Daniels

2016_03_18 - Ned Miller

2016_03_24 - Garry Shandling

2016_03_30 - ‘Thunderclap’ Newman

2016_03_31 - Ronnie Corbett

2016_04_05 - Leon Haywood

2016_04_06 - Merle Haggard

2016_04_11 - Emile Ford & The Checkmates

2016_04_13 - Gareth Thomas

2016_04_19 - Lord Tanamo

2016_04_20 - Victoria Wood

2016_04_21 - Prince

2016_04_21 - Lonnie Mack

2016_04_24 - Billy Paul

2016_05_02 - Paul McDowell (from The Temperance Seven)

2016_05_05 - Isao Tomita

2016_05_24 - Burt Kwouk

2016_05_28 - Floyd Robinson

2016_05_31 - Carla Lane

2016_06_03 - Dave Swarbrick

2016_06_03 - Cassius Clay (Muhummad Ali)

2016_06_12 - Janet Waldo (Voice of Penelope Pitstop)

2016_06_17 - Tenor Fly

2016_06_27 - Sir Mack Rice

2016_06_28 - Scotty Moore

2016_07_02 - Caroline Aherne

2016_07_16 - Alan Vega

2016_07_21 - Lewie Steinberg (Bassist from Booker T & The MGs)

2016_07_24 - Marni Nixon

2016_08_06 - Pete Fountain

2016_08_07 - Ruby Winters

2016_08_13 - Kenny Baker (R2d2 from ‘Star Wars’)

2016_08_22 - Toots Thielemans

2016_08_29 - Gene Wilder

2016_09_08 - Prince Buster

2016_09_17 - Charmian Carr (from ‘The Sound Of Music’)

2016_09_21 - John D Loudermilk

2016_09_24 - Buckwheat Zydeco

2016_09_25 - Jean Shepard

2016_10_02 - Sir Neville Marriner (founder of The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields)

2016_10_05 - Rod Temperton

2016_10_14 - Jean Alexander (Hilda Ogden from ‘Coronation Street’)

2016_10_21 - Dave Cash (Radio DJ)

2016_10_23 - Pete Burns (from Dead Or Alive)

2016_10_23 - Jimmy Perry (Comedy Writer)

2016_10_24 - Bobby Vee

2016_11_03 - Kay Starr

2016_11_07 - Jimmy Young

2016_11_07 - Leonard Cohen

2016_11_09 - Al Caiola

2016_11_11 - Robert Vaughn

2016_11_13 - Leon Russell

2016_11_15 - Mose Allison

2016_11_23 - Andrew Sachs (Manuel from ‘Fawlty Towers’)

2016_11_25 - Colonel Abrams

2016_12_06 - Peter Vaughan (from ‘Game Of Thrones’)

2016_12_07 - Greg Lake (from ELP)

2016_12_12 - Jim Lowe

2016_12_18 - Zsa Zsa Gabor

2016_12_24 - Richard Adams (author of ‘Watership Down’)

2016_12_24 - Rick Parfitt (from Status Quo)

2016_12_25 - George Michael

2016_12_27 - Carrie Fisher

2016_12_28 - Debbie Reynolds

 

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Twenty-Five!!!

DAY TWENTY-FIVE - A SONG YOU COULD LISTEN TO ALL DAY WITHOUT GETTING TIRED OF

So this is it - after 25 days of digging deep in the old brain to find tracks for each of them, I end on my birthday with a song that I could listen to all day. Well, it has to be this from the Art Of Noise. Surely one of the only songs I never tire of listening to... and to prove the fact, here are several different versions - should keep me busy for a while!

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Twenty-Four

DAY TWENTY-FOUR - A SONG THAT YOU HAVE DANCED TO WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND

Several times - what a stupid dance too!

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Twenty-Three

DAY TWENTY-THREE - A SONG THAT YOU CANNOT STAND TO LISTEN TO

I love terrible songs, and I have a large sub-collection of some really awful pieces of music. I can normally find something in even the worst of recordings, even if it is only a laugh! But this damn thing went way past 'so bad it's funny' and come out the other side as 'so bad, it really is terrible'!

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Twenty-Two

DAY TWENTY-TWO - A SONG THAT SOMEONE HAS SUNG TO YOU

My Grandmother, as she sat me on her knee at a very early age...

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Twenty-one

DAY TWENTY-ONE - YOUR FAVOURITE SONG

This was a tricky one, but when I thought about it, there could only be one selection. Although I have loads of songs I love by particular artists, there are very few that I like when they are recorded by ANY artist. 'My Funny Valentine' was written by those classic songwriters Lorenz Hart and Richard Rogers for the 1937 show 'Babes In Arms', and was originally sung by Mitzi Green. I now have hundreds of versions of this song, and most seem to give a unique interpretations. The first time I heard it was on the b-side of  'Oliver's Army' by Elvis Costello, which still remains my favourite.

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Twenty

DAY TWENTY - THE LAST SONG ALPHABETICALLY IN YOUR iPOD/TUNES

See yesterday's explanation...

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Nineteen

DAY NINETEEN - THE FIRST SONG ALPHABETICALLY IN YOUR iPOD/TUNES

I don't have an iPod, and I don't believe in iTunes. As previously mentioned, I do have a USB stick that I play in the car, but that gets changed a lot. I have a few hundered tracks on my mobile, but that hardly gets played, so I shall take this to be the first track on my Hard Drive, where I keep most of my music these days. Ignoring numbers, symbols and punctuation marks. The first track of my current 166,762 tracks is A B C (note the spaces)....

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Eighteen

DAY EIGHTEEN - A SONG THAT YOU LOVE BUT RARELY LISTEN TO

This was my favourite song of 1987, and although I often listen to Squeeze, this one always manages to get missed.

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Seventeen

DAY SEVENTEEN - A SONG THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO DANCE

Loads of songs make me want to dance. Unfortunately, the older I get, the less I can. However this one can still get the legs jiggling...

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Sixteen

DAY SIXTEEN - A SONG THAT HAS MADE YOU CRY

Tissues at the ready folks - one of the last songs performed by Johnny Cash - I challenge you not to...

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Fifteen

DAY FIFTEEN - A SONG YOU LOVE SINGING ALONG TO

As my long-suffering wife and children will testify, I love singing along to loads of songs, especially in the car on long journeys. Picking out just one is really difficult, but I chose this one... All together now... "A little bit of me, and a whole lotta you...."!!

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Fourteen

DAY FOURTEEN - A SONG THAT REMINDS YOU OF YOUR GIRLFRIEND

As my girlfriend is my wife - this is the first song we ever danced together to, and consequently 'our song'...

..

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Thirteen

DAY THIRTEEN - A SONG THAT REMINDS YOU OF A FORMER FRIEND

A friend of mine passed away very recently. She was happy, cheerful, and only had good words to say about everyone. This was one of her favourite songs...

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Twelve

DAY TWELVE - THE LAST SONG YOU HEARD

I currently have a USB stick in my car with 640 tracks taken randomly from my collection. I have it on random play, so it's like having my own radio station, never knowing what's coming next, but knowing it'll be, at least, listenable. I'm pleased to say that the track playing as I parked my car tonight was this one...(a few minutes earlier, and this would have been quite embarrassing!).

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Eleven

DAY ELEVEN - A SONG ON THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR FAVOURITE MOVIE

As my favourite movie is a silent one (Metropolis), I have chosen my second favourite movie 'Brazil'. The title theme is the song, and you can currently watch the whole movie on YouTube, which I suggest you do at some point soon. Your life is poorer without it!

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Ten

DAY TEN - A SONG BY YOUR FAVOURITE BAND

Picking my favourite band is easy. I first heard XTC in 1977, and I've got every song released by them, either as a band, or as one of the many solo projects or collaborations that the individual members have taken part in, right up to their DVD audio surround sound re-issues, currently being issued on a very irregular basis. Their music has led me through punk, pop, folk, rock, psychedelia, reggae, dance, and a whole load of other genres, and their lyrics have covered almost every conceivable subject from famous landmarks to songs about the penis (seek out 'Pink Thing' - pure genius!), from helicopters to ladybirds, from pyromania to atheism. So what one to pick for this list? I chose a simple love song...

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Nine

DAY NINE - A SONG THAT MAKES YOU HOPEFUL

Ever the optimist me! Life can be pretty shit, most of the time, but I listen to this, and it does make me feel that things will improve. One day they will...

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Eight

DAY EIGHT - A SONG THAT REMINDS YOU OF YOUR FIRST LOVE

When I went to Junior School, I had to get on a coach to take me there every morning and return me home every afternoon. On that coach was a little blonde haired girl called Alison Bagley. She was my first 'love' and my friends and I made up a love song to sing to her, on the way to school, which made no sense whatsoever to us, or anyone else for that matter. It just sounded funny at the time. The tune was the Herman's Hermits hit 'Sunshine Girl', the re-worked lyrics are listed below. Please don't judge me... Sorry Alison, wherever you are!



Sunshine Girl I'm looking down your bra
I see two round things
I wonder what they are.
Can you invite me
To squeeze them tightly?
"Not bloody likely!" - said Sunshine Girl!!!!

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Seven

DAY SEVEN - A SONG THAT REMINDS YOU OF THE PAST SUMMER

I know this song came out a few years back, but last summer there was a documentary on the BBC "How to be a Bohemian" that used this song as the Theme Tune. It stuck in my head, so I tracked it down a bought it on CD. Kept playing it throughout the summer months last year.

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Six

DAY SIX - A SONG THAT REMINDS YOU OF A BEST FRIEND

To those halcyon days (and nights) down the Malt & Hops, playing this on the Jukebox over and over again with Mr Creaghan & Mr Hill. It was this or 'Recipe For Love' by Harry Connick Jr.

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Five

DAY FIVE - A SONG THAT IS STUCK IN YOUR HEAD

Every morning I wake up with a different song in my head. Normally one that I heard a few days earlier, or just any random song that relates very loosely to whatever's on my mind. One that often gets stuck though is this one.

25 Songs, 25 Days - Day Four

DAY FOUR - A SONG THAT CALMS YOU DOWN

There are many songs that can calm me down, but I suppose the one that does it most for me is this track that appeared at the end of side one of Vangelis' 'Heaven & Hell' album. Vocalised by Yes stalwart Jon Anderson.



And relax....

25 Songs, 25 days - Day Three

DAY THREE - A SONG THAT REMINDS YOU OF ONE/BOTH OF YOUR PARENTS

Both Mum and Dad had a huge influence over my musical tastes, but this one always reminds me of Dad.

 Dad passed away from a heart attack in 1990, and this song was one he used to play in the car whenever we were going to visit family, or going on holiday, or just going anywhere. Played on a 'dodgy' eight track cartridge that had definitely been illegally copied, I always expect the 'clunk' as the cartridge changes track, halfway through the song.