Some 20 years ago my friend John gave me a tape of the REM album containing Losing My Religion. I still have the cassette somewhere although it ceased to play many moons since. Other than Losing My Religion, Night Swimming is probably my favourite REM track. The song talks of freedom, of lost youth and so much more, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGbZFBcO9Dk
The melodious voice of Suzanne Vega. A flick of a switch. The music fades as I too one day will fade and be no more.
On Saturday 21 December I went with my mum and her partner to listen to The Splintered Ukes, a Liverpool group who perform cover versions of other group’s tracks, http://www.splinteredukes.com/. Despite the terrible weather (it poured down for much of the time) I very much enjoyed the performance which took place in Liverpool’s Clayton Square. I had heard The Splintered Ukes perform once before in Liverpool’s Sefton Park and as with the band’s previous performance I was impressed by the group’s abilities. I ought to declare an interest as my sister is friends with several of the group. If you are in Liverpool I would recommend checking out this band.
“We only smoke when bored, so we do two packs a day and we’ve lost the difference between bored and lonely anyway”. A commentary on modern life? http://www.lyricstime.com/beautiful-south-alone-lyrics.html
Suzanne Vega is one of my favourite artists (to the best of my knowledge I own all of her albums). St Clare is hauntingly beautiful and brings tears to my eyes, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvekoHGK8i0
I am a huge fan of Dido and own all her albums. I recently purchased Girl Who Got Away and there is, as always a lot on it which gives tremendous pleasure. I particularly like The Day Before We Went to War, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4THzaCrMht4. The sound of the birds at the start and end of the music are evocative of peaceful times as is Dido’s singing but the song of the birds can be contrasted with the planes flying overhead.
On balance my next favourite track is Happy New Year which is sung in such a sad and beautiful manner, (for some reason I am unable to copy the link to this video. You can, however find it on Youtube by searching for “happy new year Dido”. As always a great album by a talented artist.
As a small child I was fascinated by the behaviour of others. This interest has remained with me and perhaps helps to explain at least partially why I write
Yesterday morning I popped into my local Wetherspoon pub for a healthy breakfast consisting of bacon (somewhat burned as it happens), sausages, hash browns, eggs, beans and toast (the diet which I began two weeks ago is going well I am pleased to report)! There I was wondering what I should order once I’d finished my starter when the comparative peace was disturbed by two gentlemen. They took a seat at a table behind me and proceeded to entertain the boring customers who had just popped in for a breakfast or a quiet pint.
The two men where obviously engaged in trying to crack a puzzle as one of them remarked to his companion that they had 15 minutes to find the solution. The same man then proceeded to extol the virtues of Paul Weller’s Peacock Soup. Well I thought he said Peacock Soup but as he began to tunefully regail (tunefully being a matter of opinion) us pub goers it became apparent that the song was in fact called Peacock Suit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOYrioF-hB8). The trio sang with such gusto that I felt the necessity of eating more quickly in order that I might escape into the open air and enjoy the singing of my feathered friends.
“Fuck”, “Fuck” the ring leader exclaimed on several occasions. The language was so far as I was able to ascertain a result of his inability to solve that troublesome puzzle while Weller’s song failed to provide the clue enabling him to crack the code. Would that I had known the answer, I would have happily confided it in the 2 gentlemen (anything for a bit of peace and quiet)!
What struck me about the whole episode was the complete lack of awareness of the presence and/or the wishes of the trio’s fellow pub goers. I don’t think that their behaviour was deliberately rude (they thanked the bar staff for bringing their food), however there was a complete mental blank so far as the needs of others where concerned.
Of course pubs can be (and frequently are) noisy places but I have rarely, if ever seen two men dominate a public house in that manner before. Had I been tempted to stay on after my breakfast and tea to indulge in something a little stronger the presence of those two songsters would have deterred me from doing so. Oh well perhaps I can incorporate the incident into a future story.
K Morris - Poet 