Is it me* or is WordPress getting a bit personal, not to say voyeuristic, with this latest instalment of ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’: “Feed your senses. Write down the first sight, sound, smell and sensation you experienced on waking up today. Pick the one you’re most drawn to and write. (For a bigger challenge,…
“All I know, I could not leave her there” It’s been a few weeks since the Grateful Dead featured in Song Lyric Sunday, but this week’s theme of ‘flowers’ provides a good opportunity to redress that. Both words and music of this sweet little song were written by Jerry Garcia’s long-term collaborator, Robert Hunter. Oh…
The first time I heard (or even heard of) Janis Joplin was on the BBC’s classical music station, Radio 3. Back in 1968, it also brodcast ball-by-ball cricket commentary on England test matches. It being the school holidays and I being a bit of a nerd, I was planning to score the upcoming test match…
First of all, many congratulations and best wishes to Helen from This Thing Called Life One Word At A Time on her marriage yesterday (which, quite unrelatedly, was also my 65th birthday). Appropriately, the theme for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday is precious metal or stones. This song is not about love in the romantic…
Pessimist or optimist? Who cares? Apart, that is, from the good folks at WordPress, where today’s instalment of ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’ poses the familiar question: ‘The glass? Is the glass half-full or half-empty?’ A true pedant (who? moi?) could deconstruct this interesting philosophical question for hours on end. Assuming that there really is…
“There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences.” – Robert Ingersoll This week, Helen is looking for a song that deals with ‘consequences’, whether good or bad. As she rightly points out, lots of songs are, in one way or another, about some consequence of an earlier action, as any…
The letter ‘I’ isn’t exactly awash with possibilities for a Music Lexicon – unless you genuinely are/were a fan of INXS, which I’m not/wasn’t. Fortunately though, for me there was one standout candidate to fill this particular vacancy – The Incredible String Band. ‘Psychedelic folk’ is a fair enough shorthand description of the Incredibles, so…
As one possessed of what is disparagingly known as a ‘gill bladder’ – which is to say that my powers of retention are somewhat below average – I have extensive direct experience of public conveniences all over the world, and during my many passing (sic) visits I have come across encountered some well-known faces. I…
“Oh I’ll be a good boy Please make me well” The theme for this week on Helen’s This Thing Caled Life One Word At A Time is ‘pain’. As Helen rightly points out, there’s no end of songs that seek to convey the feeling of pain. However, many – perhaps even the majority – of…
What is it, I wonder, about ice cream that makes me go all philosophical? Earlier this year I posted a paean to ice cream entitled ‘Ice Cream Is Life‘. That was in direct response to a WordPress daily prompt, but more recently I was plunged unprompted into a new contemplative reverie by the alluring prospect…
the only deadhead in the hameau 