CLASSIC SONGS
This Beatles classic is not as innocent or simple as it first appears
You’ll never be able to hear Penny Lane in the same way again once you know what Paul McCartney was really singing about in this song.
I imagine the Beatles were highly amused when the UK’s staid middle-class institutions, such as the BBC, and US radio stations innocently played Penny Lane without realising the song contained several sexual innuendoes and a drug reference.
English working-class sexual expressions and culture
The English working classes use many seemingly innocent expressions to describe sex; a bit of how’s your father means to have sex, meat and two veg. is used to describe male genitalia and garden gate means fellatio.
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Travel. Travel Memories. Travel Writing Prompt.
My favourite London memories you won’t find in travel guides
My favourite travel memories from the country I was born in are from the city I lived in — London.
It might seem odd that someone would travel around their home city and find it the best memory. Maybe it’s nostalgia now my wife, Alejandra, and I live in Spain? I don’t think so.
London covers 600 square miles so there’s a lot of London to travel to. Here are a few of my favourite London travel memories — off the tourist trails.
The Lost Villages and Towns
London expanded rapidly in the 20th century, eating up villages and towns in its path like a…
PLAYLIST
Bruce is the main man in the UK too so why not?
Bruce Springsteen is a big deal this side of the Atlantic too.
Future E-Street Band roadie, Paul Combs, brilliantly writes about Springsteen (and whole a lot more) from a US perspective so here’s an alternative viewpoint from the other side of the water.
First a few facts about Springsteen in the UK.
- Springsteen’s last eight albums, excepting The Seeger Sessions, reached number 1 in the UK charts. His latest, Letter to You, went straight to number 1, outselling the combined sales of the next five albums in the charts. We love him here.
- On his Wrecking Ball 2012/2013 world tour…
MUSIC CULTURE
What do you do if your sibling or parent is a music superstar?
Many sons and daughters or siblings follow their famous relative into the music industry without ever reaching the same level of stardom.
It doesn’t mean they are not successful in their own way and sometimes they become even more famous.
Mick Jagger’s brother
How do you succeed in music when your older brother is the lead singer and frontman for one of the most famous bands in the world?
Chris Jagger started out by seeming to want to trade on his brother’s name; his first album was called You Know The Name But Not The Face. …
FLASH FICTION
William Morris was always home at 6 pm on Mondays. It was now 6.15. There had been no call. That was not like William. He always called.
William Morris was always home at 6 pm on Mondays. The train pulled in at 5.55 pm and it was a five-minute walk home. When his train was delayed, which was often, he always called to let her know so she could have everything ready for him at his new arrival time. It was now 6.15. There had been no call. That was not like William. He always called.
Karen stared out through the backdoor window. A low sun glowed across the neatly trimmed garden lawn to the shed at the bottom. …
MUSICAL INFLUENCES
You’ve got to be a damn good guitarist for your name to go into the dictionary
I’m not often Hank Marvin, but it can happen.
I’m occasionally Hank Marvin when I first get up in the morning or after a long run. Sometimes my wife is Hank Marvin too. She didn’t know this at first because she’s not from England so I had to explain it to her.
When you’re a guitar legend, like Hank Marvin, you can become an adjective in British English — Hank Marvin means very hungry; it’s Cockney rhyming slang for starvin’ (starving).
Will the real Hank Marvin please stand up and play?
Hank Marvin is one of England’s greatest and most influential rock and pop guitarists. …
MUSIC HISTORY
One of the greatest British pop-rock bands of the ’60s never received the recognition and rewards they deserved
In 1960s Britain, The Small Faces were serious rivals to The Rolling Stones, The Who, and The Kinks. They had fourteen hit singles and five hit albums in the UK plus commercial success across mainland Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
They were, however, the only major British band to have little success in the USA during the ‘British Invasion’ of the ‘60s.
We are the Mods
The Small Faces were Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, Ian McLagen, and former child actor, Steve Marriott. …
MUSIC PLAYLIST
If these 8 Springsteen songs about cars, running free and working in factories are not unromantic, nothing is
Every young man has a priority list in his life. If I’m brutally honest, romance isn’t high on those lists.
The priorities depend on your interests and where you live. These used to be mine:
- My guitar
- Football — winter, cricket — summer
- Good live band in town?
- Did I have a song to work on?
- Band practise
- Girlfriends
- My job
1 to 5 were in no particular order. 7 didn’t count and 6 could move up the list if the girlfriend was willing to go to the gig or promised to listen quietly while I practised the intro to…
CLASSIC PLAYLIST
Macca wrote some of the greatest pop songs ever. He also wrote a few of the worst
Paul McCartney is one of the greatest songwriters the UK has ever produced.
He was just 23 years old when he wrote Yesterday, one of the most recorded songs of all time. He gave us classics such as Hey Jude, Eleanor Rigby, Penny Lane, Band on the Run, Maybe I’m Amazed and Venus and Mars. I could fill this article with huge lists of his musical works of genius, but we all know these songs.
Less remembered are his stinkers when he seemed to have forgotten he was supposed to be a genius. These howlers have been quietly forgotten.
I’ve…
CLASSIC HITS
You may never have realised these vintage hits were not the originals
1. Without You — Harry Nilsson 1971, Mariah Carey 1994
Without You was a worldwide hit for American singer-songwriter Harry Neilson and later for Mariah Carey. Because Nilsson was such a respected singer-songwriter, it is widely assumed he wrote Without You.
However, Nilsson first heard the song on the radio and thought it was a Beatles tune. Once he found out it was an album track by a less well-known band, he recorded it. Nilsson changed the arrangement and delivered a dynamic vocal performance. It became the haunting ballad we are familiar with.
Mariah Carey’s version is a cover of the Nilsson cover she enjoyed as a child.
The…
Alex Markham
Fiction and nonfiction, often with a touch of humour. Top writer in music. Also, travel, language and other topics.
