Song Lyric Sunday: Pretending – ‘Tears Of A Clown’

Everyone pretends, at least sometimes. The public face often bears no relation to what’s going on in the internal dialogue. It’s not surprising, therefore, that there are many songs that would fit Helen’s theme this week of ‘pretending’. Bob Dylan almost certainly had his tongue wedged firmly in his cheek when he famously described Smokey…

One-Liner Wednesday: Epistemology 101

“You only think it’s there because you can see it.”  – – – – – – – – – Perhaps a little explanation would be helpful. Those of a certain age may remember that when you turned off an old television set the screen went black but there was a white dot that took a…

My Music Lexicon: Z is for Zappa (and ZZ Top)

And finally….Frank Zappa – or my brother would want to know the reason why. What I know about Zappa may possibly be more than that of the average music fan: but it’s no more than the tip of the iceberg in terms of the prodigious quantity and range of his output. To be honest, not…

Song Lyric Sunday: Courage – ‘Hold Your Head Up’

Helen has chosen the theme of ‘courage’ for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday.  There are clearly plenty of songs out there that fit the theme in a broad sense. Many of them, though, I’d consider to be off limits for me, in the sense that they are about the challenges of being a woman. To…

My Music Lexicon: Y is for Young (and The Yardbirds)

That would be Neil Young, of course. I used to listen to Neil Young a lot in my youth. I was captivated by the first time I heard his distinctive quavery voice on ‘Helpless’ and I owned a couple of his albums – ‘After The Goldrush’ and ‘Harves’t – as well as the live CSN&Y…