A little bit of personal history here. In the second half of the eighties, I spent a considerable proportion of my life on aeroplanes. Why so? Because, as I used to sum it up, I lived in Scotland and worked in London for an American investment bank as an analyst, covering companies (more specifically, banks)…
Song Lyric Sunday this week is about mental health. I resisted the temptation just to throw in something containing the word ‘crazy’ (‘Still Crazy After All These Years’; ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’) and I’ve already deployed what, to my mind, is one of the finest evocations of madness ever written – ‘Brain Damage/Eclipse’ by…
The theme for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday is to post something from a Scandinavian artiste(s). I can’t be the only one who’s first thought was Abba – nor, I suspect, the only one who thought ‘Nah: try harder”. So who else is there? Bjork from Iceland, of course; that heavy rock group from Finland…
“Put on your red shoes” This week’s Song Lyric Sunday challenge needs a song that mentions an item of clothing. My first thought was David Bowie’s ‘Queen Bitch’ (what exactly is a bippetty-boppetty hat?), but I’ve already deployed it. Still, Bowie surely knew more about fashion items than most modern music icons, so it didn’t…
Or, put another – literal – way: ‘Best Wishes’. In France, you’re more likely to hear this than ‘Happy New Year’, although in the subsequent ritual verbal exchanges it’s probably going to be escalated to ‘bonne année‘ (good year) and the final dénouement: ‘et surtout, bonne santé‘ – ‘and, above all, good health’. At this…
Looking back at the dear departed of the music world in 2023, I must confess that many of the names were quite unfamiliar to me, although there were several prominent artistes (most recently, of course, Shane MacGowan) on the list. Another of the great losses, however, was Tina Turner. This just oozes seductiveness. Tell me…
It’s that time of year again… As a general rule, Christmas songs don’t really do it for me (bah, humbug). Perhaps it’s the over-familiarity of the same old chestnuts, on repeat, being belted out of every supermarket PA system from about the beginning of November. Although I will admit to having a bit of a…
…to be jolly? If suppose so, if you like that kind of thing. Anyway, in these parts it’s definitely been the season for Christmas markets (marchés de Nõel). Every self-respecting village (as well as some that patently have no shame whatsoever) puts on a Christmas market at some point during the first two weekends of…
Initially I was stumped when I saw that the theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week was a one-take recording. Surely any song that comes out of a studio has been dubbed, multi-tracked and heaven knows what else? Except maybe back in the fifties. So what to do? Why, pick something from a live recording…
Thirty years or so ago, I worked in ‘The City’ (for the uninitiated, that’s the London financial district). As it was a requirement to get to one’s desk at an ungodly hour in the morning, like most of my fellow wage-slaves I would usually purchase my breakfast on the way into the office. On this…
the only deadhead in the hameau 