Category Archives: Music

The Proclaimers – Sunshine on Leith

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I was in the kitchen the other day and for some reason they were talking about The Proclaimers on Radio 2 – what was their best song? Most of the listeners said that Sunshine on Leith was their favourite, mind you the DJ did say that it was mainly people from Leith who were emailing in and it was a lovely sunny day in Leith at that time. So here are The Proclaimers singing it at T In the Park, the music festival which is held near us every year.

It’s the Hibs football fans’ anthem and it’s just a shame that today’s match result couldn’t at least have been a wee bit less of a gubbing for them, especially as The Proclaimers are fans.

Here’s a video of the fans singing it in happier times.

We still haven’t managed to find the time to get back to Leith to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia, why do the weekends always go so quickly?

Just because I love The Wee Proclaimers here they are again.

Davy Jones

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It seems that there has been a bit of a need for singers in that big concert venue in the sky, what with Amy and then Whitney being called up recently and now poor Davy Jones. I watched The Monkees programmes when they were shown for the first time in the 1960s. They were the American answer to The Beatles and we all loved them. A later generation fell in love with them when the programmes were given another airing in the 1980s.

I saw Davy Jones on TV recently and he looked hale and hearty so the news of his death tonight was quite a shock, so sad, and really he was so young at just 66. On the radio they played a medley of Monkees hits and for each one I was thinking – that was a great song! I’ve chosen Daydream Believer because the video shows Davy Jones at his best.

2012 New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna and Gustav Klimt

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It has become a tradition in our house to watch the Vienna Philarmonic Orchestra’s New Year’s Day concert. It’s a lovely peaceful way of starting the day, even if you aren’t nursing a hangover. There’s always a lovely mixture of music and dance and they show you bits of Vienna too, it’s somewhere I’ve never been but it looks gorgeous.

This year the dance literally revolved around Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. I love his artworks, whether they’re landscapes or portraits. He was so great at getting the feeling of textures into his work which I suppose is why so many of his designs have been used for tapestry and embroidery kits.

The Kiss dance is around about 39 minutes into this video if you’re interested in looking at it.

I know people always slag off artists whose work is used for things like calendars, it’s daft really because it just proves that it’s beautiful and easy on the eye, after all you don’t want to look at ugly works of art for the whole year.

Klimt

I have this one above the fireplace in my living-room and I always fancied visiting the place, until I saw it on TV smothered by tourists and that put me right off. Now I’m quite happy just to have it on my wall.

McDonald’s No More

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I was absolutely flabbergasted, not to say dumbfoonert, when I walked past what had been McDonald’s in Kirkcaldy High Street last week and saw that it was all boarded up. I thought maybe it was just closed for refurbishment, although I did think it was a strange time of the year to do that. After a wee bit of research on the internet I discovered that it has closed down completely!

So much for all those people who say that kids are able to get work easily if they want it, and they are all too lazy or snooty to start flipping burgers, they obviously haven’t been to Fife, where they can’t flip burgers even if they want to. I feel really sorry for the people who have lost their jobs there because the town is such an unemployment blackspot and it’s going to be so difficult for them to get another job. Kirkcaldy always has been an area of high unemployment thanks to the Labour Party stranglehold on the area and having Gordon Brown as our MP who did absolutely nothing for Kirkcaldy except poke his nose in things which had nothing to do with him, and overruled the council.

McDonald’s isn’t everyone’s cup of tea or meal of choice, certainly not mine anyway but it’s a shame that yet another business has disappeared from the High Street. The only growth area shop-wise is charity shops and by all accounts it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

And if you fancy a bit of a laugh have a look at this puppet version. I think they’re great and the scenery behind them isn’t too bad either.

Thaxted and Gustav Holst

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We had intended to just drive through the small Essex town of Thaxted but decided to stop to take some photos when I saw this unusual building. It’s the Guildhall, it looks even stranger in this photo but the steeple belongs to the church which is situated behind it.

Guildhall, Thaxted

The place is just full of Tudor half timbered houses like this one, all very higgledy-piggledy but still standing after about 500 years and still sheltering people from those cold East Anglian winds. No doubt they cost an arm and a leg too.

Timbered house in Thaxted

Then I noticed a plaque on a house just to the left of the guild hall. Gustav Holst’s house, I hadn’t even realised that he had lived in Essex, but there he was, bang in the centre of Thaxted High Street.

Gustav Holst's House

Holst is most famous for his Planets Suite so in the hope that after the recent news from Libya the poor souls of that country will now have some peace in their lives, I thought this You Tube rendition of Holst’s Venus – The Bringer of Peace would be appropriate. Fingers crossed for the Libyans.

Virginia Plain – Roxy Music

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I’m still engulfed by that hell which is Gordon’s old bedroom, the decorating is taking a lot longer than it used to, must be my age – or maybe I’m not being so slap-dash now. Anyway, I’ve not had much time for anything else but on Friday night I took a bit of a break from it and watched The Old Grey Whistle Test programme which was on. Most of the clips were at least 40 years old but I can hardly believe that.

I loved Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music when I was a teenager so I enjoyed the clip of them doing The Strand but I fancied hearing Virginia Plain again, have a look if you want to see some glam rock from a 1972 Top of the Pops.

Honestly – what do those dancers in the audience look like?! I just hope that the 13 year old me wasn’t that awful!

Somewhere In My Heart by Aztec Camera

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The weather has been really lovely for quite a few days now, well the temperature keeps going up and down but we haven’t had any of that wet stuff recently, which is quite amazing.

Does anybody else have good weather songs? This one always makes me think of sunshine and blue skies, it’s just a really jaunty pop song from the 1980s. Aztec Camera was a Scottish band, I think they all came from just outside Glasgow.

I think my favourite is the first version but if you prefer something a bit more laid back you might like the second version more. The video is certainly much better.

This single was released in 1988, when our sons were just 1 and 2 years old, so I was still walking about with a numb brain due to lack of sleep, and washing nappies of course. Happy days?!!

Lawdy Miss Clawdy by Lloyd Price

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The clock radio wakes me up every morning and it’s tuned to Radio 2 and Chris Evans. This morning somebody requested Lawdy Miss Clawdy, it must be about 20 years or more since I’d heard it, but I knew something wasn’t right.

It was the Elvis version which was played. Now I have nothing against Elvis and although I was never a big fan I quite liked his early stuff. Anyway I just had to find out who had sung the version of Miss Clawdy which I remembered, and here it is, from 1952, which is a good wee while before I was born. I have siblings who are much older than me though so I heard a lot of music which most people my age wouldn’t have. I really enjoyed hearing Lloyd’s version again.
It’s a pity that there doesn’t seem to be any film of him performing it.