What did I get you for Christmas this year, the internet? I got you a YouTube Advent Calendar:
In retrospect, committing to a song a day was a bit dumb when I didn’t have any already written (ah, preparation) but finally it’s complete. 24 songs written and recorded. Pick a door and watch a video. Many of them are funny. Most of them are intended to be.
In my opinion, the best ditties are on days 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 18, 20 and 22. And if you’d like the chose by title, rather than by an arbitrarily-assigned number, there’s a playlist on YouTube.
Despite the surprisingly exhausting level of effort required, I’m glad I did it. But I’m even more glad it’s over…
Regular readers of this blog will know that I usually post a summary of the Eurovision entrants around this time of year. Alas, what with elections and then post-election holidays and then going to the pub a bit, this year there will be no blog post. I know, it’s a tragedy.
However, it’s not all bad news. I’ll be live tweeting along with the Eurovision final on Saturday night on my twitter account, so much of the, er, insight that usually finds its way onto this blog will be available there. Watch out for numerous Blake’s 7 references.
You can also fill this blog-post-sized hole with my contribution to this week’s Pod Delusion podcast. You’ll find me wittering on about Eurovision (recorded in one take I’ll have you know) around 26 minutes in:
Finally, don’t forget to tune in yourself to BBC One at 8pm on Saturday (or some red buttony thing that I don’t have that gives you the lyric subtitles). I’ll be backing Denmark. Or maybe Romania. Or maybe Albania. I haven’t quite made up my mind. And whereas last year I correctly predicted (for once) that Norway would storm to victory, there’s no such obvious victor this year.
It was only a few years ago that I first heard of Jacques Brel. He was a Belgian singer-songwriter, famed in France for his complex, poetic songs and energetic performances. Although his songs were nearly all in French, they have been widely translated into English – the best known are Scott Walker’s Jackie (Spotify link), an accurate reflection of Brel’s original, and Terry Jacks’s Seasons in the Sun, which is, erm, less so – the original, Le Moribond, has a markedly darker emphasis.
Scott Walker recorded English versions of a number of Brel’s songs, as did David Bowie. Compare versions of Amsterdam by Walker, Brel and Bowie
Anyhoo, the reason I’m writing about Brel now is to plug Radio 2’s three-part documentary about his life and music, Behind the Brel. You’ve missed episode 1, I’m afraid, but episode 2 is on the iPlayer and episode 3 will be on Radio 2 on Tuesday night at 11.30pm. At the time of writing, obviously. If you’re in the far distant future, you may need to hunt the space internet for a copy of visit your local space library.
You can of course read more about Jacques Brel on teh Wikipedia.
In honour of my writing this from Lib Dem spring conference in Birmingham, today’s (short) list is Pop Songs That Name Constituencies With Liberal Democrat MPs. It’s also inspired by the first entry on the list, which – bizarrely – was being sung outside the conference hotel in the early hours last night.
Despite our 63 MPs, few constituencies are likely to appear in song lyrics because they contain qualifiers (mainly compass points). So Brent East, Leeds North West, Bristol West, Cardiff Central and Oxford West and Abingdon are unlikely to feature.
I’ve managed to come up with six. Any additions in the comments please.
Jackie by Scott Walker – Twickenham
From Rochdale to Ocho Rios by 10cc – Rochdale
Boston (Ladies of Cambridge) by Vampire Weekend – Cambridge (there must be more that mention Cambridge)
Winchester by Emmy the Great – Winchester
Chesterfield King by Jawbreaker – Chesterfield
Taunton Exhibition by The Bus Station Loonies – Taunton
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