A Couple of Links

Posted on 4 July 2020 by Katrina

Here we are almost at yet another Saturday, I can’t believe how quickly the days go by in these Covid-19 times. Anyway, last Saturday there was an interesting article in the Guardian Review – Me and my detective – Partners in Crime. In it some crime authors write about their detectives. How does it feel to live with the same fictional character for decades, and when do you decide to call it a day? You can read the article via the link above. It includes Lee Child, Val McDermid, Ann Cleeves, Ian Rankin, Lynda La Plante, Jo Nesbo and others.

Elsewhere, at Son of the Rock in fact – Jack always has a music post on Fridays, sadly it’s often inspired by the death of an artist that he has admired over the years, but his recent music post is a comparison of two versions of The In Crowd, the original by Dobie Gray and the early 1970s Bryan Ferry version, though he didn’t choose a video of Ferry performing it. Ahem, that one reminds me so much of my school days and I actually bought and still own the album it comes from. Click the link to hear them.

Two versions of The In Crowd.

Ferry’s version was released in 1974 but this performance is from two years later. It’s been captioned In Crown for some odd reason. There were a lot of dodgy moustaches around in the mid 1970s. That one was a mistake, Bryan.

Helsinki – via Jack @ A Son of the Rock

Posted on 3 June 2020 by Katrina

It was May last year – the glory days when we could wander – when we were on a Baltic cruise, how lucky were we that it wasn’t this May! Anyway I am way behind with doing blogposts about the various places we visited. Jack has been far more methodical so if you want to see what our visit to Helsinki looked like have a look here.

My abiding memory of the city is the long walk out to the Sibelius monument and the menu at a posh restaurant in a small park which was charging a lot of money for carrot foam. Truly!

The Bangles – Eternal Flame

Posted on 28 February 2020 by Katrina

Tonight we were looking for something to watch on TV and considering it was Friday night the choice was dire, or maybe it was because it was Friday night it was dire. Anyway, we ended up watching an epsiode of Top of the Pops from 1989 and the last song was Eternal Flame by The Bangles. Music wise I don’t think 1989 was a great year but I’ve always loved this one. So I thought I’d put it on here. What do you think?

When I think of any year I always calculate how old my kids were then and in 1989 they were two and three, so that’s maybe why some of the other songs in this episode had gone straight past me. I was just too busy and too tired probably to pay much attention to what was going on in the music scene. But this one stayed with me.

It also reminded me of Gilmore Girls, I loved that programme. Rori took her friend Paris to a Bangles concert and she had never been to anything like that before – she really liked that band!

Jean Sibelius – Helsinki, Finland

Posted on 17 June 2019 by Katrina

Helsinki in Finland was one of the destinations on our recent Baltic cruise. We decided to walk out to see the structure which commemorates the composer Sibelius – we walked and walked – and ‘better’ walked as the Scots phrase for too much goes, thinking we would never get there, but we did, just as three bus tours full of Chinese tourists descended on it. They all wanted an individual photo of themselves standing beside the monument for some reason, so it was quite some time before we could get an image of it on its own. Meanwhile I wondered if any of them had even heard of Sibelius, but for all I know they may have been a Chinese branch of his appreciation society!

I’m wondering if the designer got mixed up between Sibelius and Mendelssohn as it really reminds me of Fingal’s Cave which is the cave on the uninhabited Scottish island of Staffa in the Inner Hebrides which inspired Mendelssohn to write his best known piece of music of that name. you can see images of it here.

Below is the man himself and yes they did all have to have their photo taken with him – individually.

I found the video below on You Tube, it’s his Finlandia, Op. 26.symphonic. Apart from beautiful music it also shows amazing scenery and lots of animals as well as the northern lights.

Ring a ring o’ roses

Posted on 22 December 2017 by Katrina

It was when I was reading Louise Penny’s latest book Glass Houses that I discovered that in some parts of the world – mainly the ‘new world’ – the words to Ring a ring o’ roses are slightly different with the word ‘ashes’ being substituted where atishoo should be. It’s a bizarre word to choose I think and makes no sense, but that’s what happens as things evolve, a sort of Chinese whisper ensues.

At school we were all taught that what seems like a charming nursery rhyme is actually about the Black Death/Plague as it describes the different stages of the disease.

The ‘ring of roses’ is the red rash that appeared on victim’s skins, usually at the top of the leg to begin with before moving on to under the arm and all over. So the pocketful of posies is describing the rash.

Atishoo atishoo (not ashes) – the next stage is sneezing and a chill, followed by fever, breathing problems and –

We all fall down is – death.

A cheery subject for a nursery rhyme – not. But that’s par for the course. Mary, Mary, quite contrary is about Bloody Queen Mary (Tudor) who had thousands of non-Catholic people executed after Henry VIII’s death.

Most fairy tales in their original guise are quite terrifying, but they’re all warnings of what can happen to children if they don’t take care. For instance Rumpelstiltskin is about the need for young girls to keep away from old men, that needle that they might get pricked with was something much more dangerous – a rumpled stilt in a skin in fact!

I would normally avoid putting children on here but as the clip below has been put on You Tube by a nursery group, I’m still not sure if that’s a good idea. Anyway, they get the song right.

Solstice Bells – Jethro Tull – Top of the Pops 1976

Posted on 21 December 2017 by Katrina

It is indeed the Winter Solstice which always makes me feel cheery, it’s psychological I know because the nights still take quite a while to get noticeably lighter at night, but as far as I’m concerned the worst of it is under our belt. I can look forward to evening walks in daylight or night time gardening.

Jethro Tull performed Solstice Bells on Top of the Pops in 1976, the year we got married as it happens. The words are below if you feel like singing along!

Happy Winter Solstice.

Now is the solstice of the year
Winter is the glad song that you hear
Seven maids move in seven time
Have the lads up ready in a line
Ring out these bells. Ring out. Ring solstice bells. Ring solstice bells

Join together ‘neath the mistletoe
By the holy oak whereon it grows
Seven druids dance in seven time
Sing the song the bells call loudly chiming
Ring out these bells, ring out. Ring solstice bells. Ring solstice bells

Praise be to the distant sister sun
Joyful as the silver planets run
Seven maids move in seven time
Sing the song the bells call loudly chiming
Ring out these bells, ring out. Ring solstice bells. Ring solstice bells
Ring out, ring out those solstice bells. Ring out, ring out those solstice bells.

Praise be to the distant sister sun
Joyful as the silver planets run
Seven maids move in seven time
Sing the song the bells call loudly chiming
Ring out these bells, ring out. Ring solstice bells. Ring solstice bells
Ring on, ring out. Ring on, ring out. Ring on, ring out. Ring on, ring out.

Christmas Dream – Perry Como

Posted on 19 December 2017 by Katrina

I was listening to the radio the other day and Michael Ball (the presenter) played Christmas Dream by Perry Como, and I was amazed when he said he had never heard it before. Maybe he’s too young. It apparently featured in the 1974 film of The Odessa File and was written by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice, that was a surprise to me although I’m sure I’ve seen the film – back in the year dot.

It’s a bit of an ear-worm though and I can’t get it out of my head, so I thought I’d be generous and pass it on!

The Cavern, Liverpool

Posted on 8 October 2017 by Katrina

For some reason I had been under the impression that The Cavern had been demolished years ago, but it turns out that they only knocked down 25% of it, so it was a must visit destination for us during our recent trip to Liverpool with our friends Martin and Sue.

Just imagine how many famous performers have traipsed down the stairs into The Cavern! It seemed a long way down too.

The place was packed out with drinkers and people like ourselves who were just there to soak up a wee bit of the atmosphere. There was a chap on the stage playing guitar and he discovered that a woman at the front had come over from Belfast, Frances was celebrating her 40th birthday and she asked him to play Give Peace a Chance which he did. Perfect for a sing song! And I imagine something often in the mind of a person from Belfast.

I had a good walk around the place, the walls are covered with old photos of the many people who have performed there over the years, not only The Beatles. But it was their photos that I found strangely moving, it’s all so sad that the best two are no longer with us.

Fans from all over the world have written their names all over the brickwork. Above the photos a sign says that The Beatles played there 292 times between the 9th of February 1961 and the 3rd of August 1963

A very young looking Chuck Berry was one of the many others who have played there.

The photo below is of the entrance, which is ‘new’, well certainly not the original, presumably that one was what was demolished for some reason – years ago – that 25%.

If you’re going to Liverpool, even if you aren’t a huge Beatles fan but are into music then you should definitely make time to visit The Cavern. I think there will always be a bit of a Beatles sing-song going on mind you!

Penny Lane, Liverpool, and more

Posted on 1 October 2017 by Katrina

I still have lots of Norway photos to share with you, but I thought I would relive our recent visit to Liverpool, we were staying with our good friends Martin and Sue in the north of England and they had arranged a Beatles open top bus tour. Close to the bus stop there are statues of The Beatles, they’re larger than lifesize, about seven and a half feet tall I believe. This actually looks better in the photo than it does in real life I think. My favourite – George, second from the left is particularly anonymous looking.

The first stop was Penny Lane. I don’t know what I had expected but I didn’t expect a quiet leafy road. Obviously the original road sign was nicked years ago, and I suspect they still are stolen because this one is just a modern plastic thing.

Most of us piled out of the bus to take some photos anyway. Apart from being given Beatles information from the tour guide Damien, he was also quite handy with a guitar, so we had a sing-a-long too. There is still a barber there and a bank.

The other end of Penny Lane is residential although some of the buildings have been turned into workplaces. A few computer bound upper office workers are happy to wave back at you, maybe it brightens up their day to have a tour bus pass them every now and again.

Strawberry Fields Forever – but not THE gate apparently. Yoko Ono took the original after John Lennon was murdered. I believe she put them somehere in the US. These replica gates were made, but I don’t think they should have allowed her to remove the originals. Strawberry Fields was of course the name of a Salvation Army children’s home and it had a lot of ground around it, the local kids used to play in there, it was their bit of paradise. It seems that fans have come from all over the world to scrawl messages on the gatepost.

Meanwhile back; onto the bus and the street in the photo below is where Paul McCartney grew up. Apparently he still goes back there now and again, to show people where he grew up.

Then on to Aunt Mimi’s house below. This is where John Lennon grew up, staying with his Aunt Mimi when his parents lost custody of him, both being deemed unfit parents. He was lucky to have his aunt and uncle who stepped in to bring him up here. The people who own this house now must be really fed up with constant tour bus stops, they have the bedroom window curtains drawn and I don’t blame them.

You can see the front porch has been fairly recently refurbished, but that is where John Lennon and Paul McCartney used to practice their guitar playing when they were kids. I think it was supposed to be less annoying for the neighbours if they were out there.

If you are a Beatles fan then the trip is well worthwhile – even worth getting soaked as happened to us up the back of the open-topped bus.

I was a bit too young for the Beatles in their heyday but my sister was a teenager then so I grew up with their music. She was a fan and had George Harrison framed on her dressing table.

Meanwhile back to Penny Lane.

How Much Is That Doggie In The Window

Posted on 14 June 2017 by Katrina

Wandering further afield from the town centre in Ypres, Belgium, we were amused to see a dog sitting in the window of a shoe shop.

That was our cue to start singing How much is that doggie in the window? of course. Well, we thought it was funny but the dog was not amused and took to pacing the length of the window, we were obviously dodgy customers as far as that dog was concerned.

Did you know that when Margaret Thatcher ‘did’ Desert Island Discs she said that that song was her favourite piece of music. It says a lot about her!

If you want a blast from the past have a look at Patti Page singing it.

Pining for the West

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Category Archives: Music