Song Lyric Sunday – August 23 2020 – Heaven Knows there are plenty of mentions of Below

Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week Jim asks us for a song with a title, or lyrics, containing one of the following words: Above /Below /Between.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries here.

This week I reckon I’ve got a real corker of a song for you. Not only that, but I also have an exclusive clip of what Jim has been doing during lockdown. You may be surprised to hear that he’s been doing some pretty serious dance classes and I have installed a secret camera in the dance studio to catch Jim in action. First though, here is The Pretty Reckless with Heaven Knows. The song is from their second studio album, Going To Hell, released in 2014.

Heaven Knows – Isle of Wight festival 2014

Here is the official video

Unfortunately, Jim got to my post and deleted the footage of him dancing. Instead he inserted a recording of his dance instructor

Heaven Knows

The Pretty Reckless

Jimmy’s in the back with a pocket of high
If you listen close
You can hear him cry
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Sing it
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Way down below, way down below

Judy’s in the front seat picking up trash
Living on the dough
Gotta make that cash
Won’t be pretty
Won’t be sweet
She’s just in here on her feet

Sing it
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Go
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Sing
Tell her so
We belong way down below
Oh oh, tell her so
We belong way down below
Way down below, way down below
Way down below, way down below

I’ve got what it takes, man
I see every day
I’ve got a better wise man
I know that I worth

One, two, three and four
The devil’s knocking at your door
Caught in the eye of a dead man’s wife
Show you life with your head up high
Now you’re on your knees
With your head down low
Big mental, she wear it to go
Tell her it’s good
Tell her okay
Don’t do a God thing they say

Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Oh oh, tell her so
We belong way down below
Way down below, way down below
Way down below, way down below

I’ve got a better wise man
I know that I worth
I’ve got what it takes, man
I see every day

Jenna’s in the back with a pocket of high
If you listen close
You can hear the crying
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Oh oh, tell her so
We belong way down below
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Oh oh, tell her so
We belong way down below

Way down below, way down below
Way down below, way down below

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Ben Phillips / Taylor Momsen

Heaven Knows lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

Song Lyric Sunday – August 16 2020 – Clear or Cloudy – and now for something completely different!

Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. I am almost certain that my choice today will count amongst the latter!

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

Most people, even if they couldn’t say exactly who Sting was, would recognise some of his music. Some will be familiar with his early work with The Police  where he was the lead vocalist, bass guitarist, and main songwriter. The band sold over 75 million records, making them one of the best selling bands of all time.

Sting has also had a hugely successful solo career, and has written and performed in a musical, The Last Ship, inspired by Sting’s own childhood experiences and the shipbuilding industry in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear where he grew up.

Not content with this, he has also collaborated with various artists and musicians on multiple projects, worked on films, sung at President Obama’s inauguration and had his brain scanned whilst performing his music!

In October 2006, he released an album entitled Songs from the Labyrinth featuring the music of John Dowland (an Elizabethan-era composer) and accompaniment from Bosnian lute player Edin Karamazov. Sting’s interpretation of this English Renaissance composer and his cooperation with Edin Karamazov brought recognition in classical music.

Here he is singing………..

Clear or Cloudy

The lyrics are a little olde worlde, I suspect it is to help Sting in his enunciation? You may have noted that he is reading the music as he sings. It is obviously a little complicated!

Cleare or cloudie sweet as April showring, 
Smooth or frowning so is hir face to mee, 
Pleasd or smiling like milde May all flowring, 
When skies blew silke and medowes carpets bee, 
Hir speeches notes of that night bird that singeth, 
Who thought all sweet yet jarring notes outringeth. 

Hir grace like June, when earth and trees bee trimde, 
In best attire of compleat beauties height, 
Hir love againe like sommers daies bee dimde, 
With little cloudes of doubtfull constant faith, 
Hir trust hir doubt, like raine and heat in Skies, 
Gently thundring, she lightning to mine eies. 

Sweet sommer spring that breatheth life and growing, 
In weedes as into herbs and flowers, 
And sees of service divers sorts in sowing, 
Some haply seeming and some being yours, 
Raine on your herbs and flowers that truly serve, 
And let your weeds lack dew and duly starve.

and here singing Come Again

and for anyone who is interested in the derivatives of the Lute, here is a very good introduction.

STOP PRESS

As a late addition I found this alternative version of the song. Quite an interesting comparison.

Song Lyric Sunday – August 9 2020 – A song with a harmonica

Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

I had this week’s post all sorted with multiple choices of songs, there are so many to choose from!  Then, on Saturday morning I was listening to BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live, which includes a section where well known people are asked for their ‘Inheritance Tracks’, that is a song that they have inherited, and a song that they would pass on to future generations. It was the turn of Tony Hadley who was the lead singer of Spandau Ballet. The song he would pass on is Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. The song he inherited is now my choice for this week, My Boy Lollipop, recorded in 1964 by Millie Small.

Millie was a very bubbly character and gained international success after this record became a hit when she was only 17. She undertook a world tour but was probably encouraged to spend too much time on the road and suffered ill health for a time. By 1968 her popularity in the UK began to decline but as reggae emerged in 1969 she returned to recording for a brief period before her recording career ended and she stepped away from music.  She later lived in Singapore and New Zealand before returning to London, where she concentrated on writing, painting and raising her daughter.

When My Boy Lollipop was re-released in 1987 to mark Island Records’ 25th anniversary, she gave a rare interview to Thames TV, where she revealed she had, at one point, been penniless and sleeping rough in London.  Millie died on 5 May 2020 from a stroke.

We never get to see just who is playing harmonica on this song. Millie always insisted that it was Rod Stewart but he has always denied it.   It was almost certainly either Pete Hogman or Jimmy Powell, both of The Five Dimensions. Pete Hogman and Five Dimensions guitarist Kenny White both maintain it was Pete Hogman, while Jimmy Powell asserts that it was he who played this solo. We shall never know!

My Boy Lollipop

Millie Small

My boy lollipop
You make my heart go giddy up
You are as sweet as candy
You’re my sugar dandy
Ho, ho, my boy lollipop
Never ever leave me
Because it would grieve me
My heart told me so

I love ya, I love ya, I love ya so
But I wanted you to know
I need ya, I need ya, I need ya so
And I’ll never let you go

My boy lollipop
You make my heart go giddy up
You set my world on fire
You are my one desire
My boy lollipop

I love ya, I love ya, I love ya so
But I wanted you to know
I need ya, I need ya, I need ya so
And I’ll never let you go

My boy lollipop
You make my heart go giddy up
You set my world on fire
You are my one desire
Oh, my boy lollipop
Oh, my boy lollipop
My boy lollipop

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Johnny Roberts / Morris Levy

My Boy Lollipop lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Harmonicas have been used in music for many years. Often they were used to tune guitars prior to pitch pipes or auto tuning. Every young man used to imagine they could easily play one. Many tried, and they were a popular Christmas present which parents often quickly regretted.

You may notice that I said young men – I always imagined it was a boy thing rather than a girl thing. I know, I know, it’s the 21st century. Equal opportunities, sexist comments and all that. So I googled lady harmonica players and boy………………..was I wrong. Here’s just one example, which will lead to many more if you get carried away. I hope you enjoy this tremendous virtuosity.

 

Lundi limerick #97

A lassie from Ilkley who swore

that she lived with a wolf on the moor

said there’s nowt wrong with that

or not wearing a hat

a traditional life’s such a bore

 

Habitation in Ilkley dates from the Mesolithic period, from about 11,000 BC onwards. It is in one of the most beautiful areas of the United Kingdom, The Yorkshire Dales, alongside the River Wharfe. You can read more about the town here.

lkley Moor is part of Rombalds Moor, the moorland between Ilkley and Keighley (pronounced Keethly) in West Yorkshire, England. The moor, which rises to 402 m (1,319 ft) above sea level, is well known as the inspiration for the Yorkshire “county anthem” On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at (dialect for ‘on Ilkley Moor without a hat’).

 

 

 

 

Song Lyric Sunday – June 21, 2020 – Mary’s in India

Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

I’ve chosen another great song by Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong and, by now, regular visitors will know that this is the real name of Dido.

From the album Life for Rent, produced in September 2003, I’m offering you a fun song called Mary’s in India. Dido obviously enjoys singing this one and, in the last couple of lines, you can discern a distinct note of fun. Or maybe it is smugness!

The first video is a live performance at Brixton Academy which gives the background to the song.

and the second video is the original recording embellished with not only Spanish and English subtitles but with several still photographs.

Mary’s in India

Dido

Danny is lonely ’cause Mary’s in India now
She said she’d call but that was three weeks ago
She left all her things well, her books and her letters from him
And as the sun rises on Mary it sets on him

Just dance, just drink and just see the things
I’ll probably never get a chance to see

Danny’s not eating, he’s drinking and sleeping in
I saw him last night at a party, he’s definitely thin
He says he’s happy, he looked pretty good but I think
That as the sun rises on Mary, it sets on him

And just dance, and just drink and just see the things
I’ll probably never get a chance to see

Danny came over last night and I cooked for him
We talked about you Mary and how much we loved you still
He told me he’s packed up your books and your letters and things
And as the sun sets on Mary, it’s rising on him

And we danced and we drank and I’ve seen some things
You probably never got a chance to see
Don’t worry Mary, ’cause I’m taking care of Danny
And he’s taking care of me

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Dido Armstrong / Rollo Armstrong

Mary’s in India lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, BMG Rights Management

Song Lyric Sunday – April 26 2020 – Alone with The Bee Gees

Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

This week the choices are all linked to the current Covid-19 situation (Alone /Confined /Depressed /Isolated /Restless /Solo), and I have chosen Alone by The Bee Gees

 

Alone

I was a midnight rider on a cloud of smoke
I could make a woman hang on every single stroke
I was an iron man I had a master plan
But I was alone

I could hear you breathing with a sigh of the wind
I remember how your body started trembling
Oh what a night it’s been, and for the state I’m in
I’m still alone

And all the wonders made for the earth
And all the hearts in all creation
Somehow I always end up alone

Always end up alone, always end up alone
So I’ll play, I’ll wait
‘Cause you know that love takes time

Living love between the line
We came (sha la) so close (so far)
Just the beat of a lonely heart
And it’s mine, and I don’t want to be alone

Well, since I got no message on your answer phone
Since you’re busy every minute I just stay at home
I make believe you care, I feel you everywhere
But I’m still alone

I’m on a wheel of fortune with a twist of fate
‘Cause I know it isn’t heaven is it love or hate
Am I the subject of the pain
Am I the stranger in the rain I am alone

And is there glory there to behold
Maybe it’s my imagination another story there to be told
So I play sha la, I’ll wait sha la
And I pray it’s not too late
We came (sha la) so far (so far)
Just a beat of a lonely heart and it’s mi-i-ine
And I don’t want to be alone

And all the wonders made for the earth
And all the hearts in all creation
Another story there to be told

So I’ll play I’ll wait
And I’ll pray it’s not too late
We can so far
Just the beat of a lonely heart
And it’s mine
And I don’t want to be alone
Gone but not out of sight
I’m caught in the rain and there’s no one home
Face the heat of the night
The one that you love’s got a heart that’s made of stone
Shine and search for the light
And sooner or later you’ll be cruising on your ocean
And clean out of site
I’m caught in the rain and there’s no one home

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Maurice Ernest Gibb / Robin Hugh Gibb / Barry Alan Gibb

Alone lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management, Royalty Networ

 

I have no problem with being alone, I quite like it. However, for those who crave the company of others, I am including a song for when we start to mingle again.

It’s from The Travelling Wilburys and is called Not Alone Anymore.

 

Rapid Rhyme #21

On hearing the wonderful Blackbird song at twilight tonight:

 

It really is delightful

It really is sublime

I cannot do it justice

in just a simple rhyme

Song Lyric Sunday 09/02/2020 – I/Me/Them/Us/You/We

Thanks again to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs. This week he’s given us the task to find a song that has the personal pronouns: I /Me /Them /Us /You / or We in the title, or in the lyrics.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

This week I’ve chosen a song containing the word “I”, but the lyrics also include “Me”.

The song is “Yesterday when I was young”, written by Charles Aznavour with Georges Garvarentz back in 1964.  Herbert Kretzmer, who also translated Aznavour’s hit “She,” wrote the English-language lyrics.

I’ve included a link, at the bottom,  to the writer’s recording, written and sung as only a Frenchman could,  but I am offering, as my main video, a recording made by Matt Munro in  1973.

Monro was a heavy smoker and battled alcoholism from the 1960s until 1981.  He died from liver cancer on 7 February 1985 at the age of only 54 which makes this recording particularly poignant.

 

And HERE is Charles Aznavour’s version

 

Yesterday When I Was Young

It seems the love I’ve known
Has always been the most destructive kind
I guess that’s why now
I feel so old
Before my time

Yesterday, when I was young
The taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned
I always built to last on weak and shifting sand
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of the day
And only now I see how the years ran away

Yesterday, when I was young
So many happy songs were waiting to be sung
So many wild pleasures lay in store for me
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out
I never stopped to think what life was all about
And every conversation I can now recall
Concerned itself with me and nothing else at all

Yesterday the moon was blue
And every crazy day brought something new to do
I used my magic age as if it were a wand
And never saw the waste and emptiness beyond
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride
And every flame I lit too quickly, quickly died
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away
And only I am left on stage to end the play

There are so many songs in me that won’t be sung
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue
The time has come for me to pay for
Yesterday, when I was young

Source: LyricFind

Yesterday When I Was Young lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Song Lyric Sunday – 02/02/2020 – Babe/Cutie/Doll/Honey/Sweetie

Thanks again to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs.

Each week he gives us a prompt and today I’m choosing Honey.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

I’m fully expecting to have several people choosing the same song as me this week as it is by a very popular group, is super cheery, and was used in a fun and feel good film.

The song is Honey Honey, released in 1974, the group is ABBA, and the film is Mamma Mia, released in 2008. Need I say more? No, let’s just get on with the music

Honey Honey

ABBA

Honey honey, how you thrill me, a-ha, honey honey
Honey honey, nearly kill me, a-ha, honey honey
I’d heard about you before
I wanted to know some more
And now I know what they mean, you’re a love machine
Oh, you make me dizzy
Honey honey, let me feel it, a-ha, honey honey
Honey honey, don’t conceal it, a-ha, honey honey
The way that you kiss good night
The way that you hold me tight
I feel like I wanna sing when you do your thing
I don’t wanna hurt you baby, I don’t wanna see you cry
So stay on the ground girl, you better not get too high
But I’m gonna stick to you boy, you’ll never get rid of me
There’s no other place in this world where I rather would be
Honey honey, touch me baby, a-ha, honey honey
Honey honey, hold me baby, a-ha, honey honey
You look like a movie star (look like a movie star)
But I know just who you are (I wonder just who you are)
And honey, to say the least, you’re a doggone beast
So stay on the ground girl, you better not get too high

There’s no other place in this world where I rather would be
Honey honey, how you thrill me, a-ha, honey honey
Honey honey, nearly kill me, a-ha, honey honey
I’d heard about you before (I’d heard about you before)
I wanted to know some more (I wanted to know you some more)
And now I know what they mean, you’re a love machine Oh, you make me dizzy

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Stig Erik Leopold Anderson / Benny Goran Bror Andersson / Bjoern K. Ulvaeus

Honey Honey lyrics © BMG Rights Management

 

Song Lyric Sunday 29/12/2019 – Crazy

Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

Well, it’s a crazy old world, and that crazy time of the year between Christmas and New Year. Crazy is the theme for this week and it’s crazy just how many songs there are that have crazy in the title, never mind the lyrics. There are also groups such as The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, who you’ve probably never heard of. They existed only from 1967 to 1970, complete with flaming head and nudity on stage, and then reformed in 2000 and are, apparently, still performing!

However, I’m not offering you Arthur Brown. Instead, I’m going back to a song released in May 1956 which was a career making hit for Ray Price. “Crazy Arms“ is an American country song which was first published in 1949 by pedal steel player Ralph Mooney and Charles “Chuck” Seals, although it was probably written by Paul Gilley of Kentucky, who worked as a ghost writer for various artists including Hank Williams.

The strength of a song can often be measured by the number of covers that are made by well known singers. “Crazy Arms” has been covered many times by performers both in country music and other genres. Some of the more notable names include Marion Worth, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, the Andrews Sisters, Gram Parsons, Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, Trini Lopez, Mickey Gilley, Great Speckled Bird, Willie Nelson, Patty Loveless, Jerry Lee Lewis, Marie Osmond, and the Jerry Garcia Band.  In 2000 Van Morrison and Linda Gail Lewis performed the song on their album You Win Again. Linda Ronstadt recorded a cover for her 1971 album, and Marty Stuart recorded an instrumental version with Mooney on his 2010 album Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions.

You can hear some of these versions by clicking the link on the name, and here is the Ray Price version, although very poor quality video!

Crazy Arms

Now blue ain’t the word for the way that I feel
And a storm is brewing in this heart of mine
This ain’t no crazy dream I know that’s it real
You’re someone else’s love now, you’re not mine

Crazy arms that reach to hold somebody new
But my yearning heart keeps saying you’re not mine
My troubled mind knows soon to another you’ll be wed
That’s why I’m lonely all the time

Please take these treasured dreams I had for you and me
And take all the love I thought was mine
Someday my crazy arms will hold somebody new
But right now I’m so lonesome I could die

Crazy arms that reach to hold somebody new
But my yearning heart keeps saying you’re not mine
My troubled mind knows soon to another you’ll be wed
You’re someone else’s love now, you’re not mine
Well you’re someone else’s love now, you’re not mine

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Chuck Seals / Ralph Eugene Mooney

Crazy Arms lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group