There’s almost an embarrassment of riches when it comes to songs about ‘Fire’, the theme set this week for Helen’s ‘Song Lyric Sunday. And not just any old songs about fire – really good ones. I thought about James Taylor’s ‘Fire and Rain’, but after last week’s rather gloomy offering, I finally decided on something…
Helen is looking for a song about gambling for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday. Although my own gambling habit extends no further than the occasional lucky dip for the Euromillions Lottery (it’s about thirty yrears since I even had a flutter on the Grand National) I knew straight away what my choice was going to…
“Daddy made whiskey and he made it well. Cost two dollars and it burned like hell” This week’s theme is ‘Alcohol’; I can deal with that. It’s been a month since I last featured a Grateful Dead song, but here’s one that meets the brief. There is a popular misconception about the Grateful Dead, in…
I don’t know about you, but I find that the older I get, the lower my boredom threshold sinks. And the shorter my attention span becomes…. Sorry, what was I saying? Oh yes: boredom. Perhaps a jaded appetite is simply an inevitable consequence of having been shuffling around this mortal coil for a long time,…
“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…
‘Rain’ is this week’s theme for Song Lyric Sunday, hosted by Helen at This Thing Called Life One Word At A Time. Ideally, I think she would like something upbeat and fun. Sorry about that. For happy songs about rain, I could steer you towards ‘Singin’ In The Rain’, of course, and ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’…
This week, Helen at This Thing Called Life One Word At A Time is looking for a road-trip song. There’s certainly no shortage to choose from and, as usual my thoughts turned first to the Grateful Dead – who for many years of touring seemed to be on a semi-permanent road trip themselves. They had…
And so we reach the heart of the matter. The band that this blog derives its name from, the band that this blogger listens to more than any other. So what’s so special about the Grateful Dead? I’m by no means a natural evangelist, but a bit of background explanation might help. The bus came…
‘What is the secret of this tie that binds Two souls in communion, both body and mind’ Today, as part of February’s overall love theme, Helen at This Thing Called Life One Word At A Time wants us to interpret the ‘deep abiding love’ of a settled relationship. I must say, I found this to…
As soon as I saw this week’s theme – the parent/child relationship – two possibilities sprang to my mind. However, as I featured John Lennon only a couple of weeks ago, ‘Mother’ was out. Plus it’s not exactly life-affirming (although obviously always worth a listen). So it had to be this. Brent Mydland was the…
the only deadhead in the hameau 