A compendium of musical delights by Alan and Margaret Ashworth
AM I alone in finding this year’s winning one-liner at the Edinburgh Fringe distasteful? Headlined by the BBC and sundry papers as a joke about vegetables, it runs: ‘I keep randomly shouting … Continue readingWhen is a disability joke OK? When it’s told by a Leftie
I was in a newsroom once when a particularly thick arts reporter loudly enquired of the chap on the next desk: ‘How do you spell illiterate?’ He couldn’t understand why … Continue reading10,000 Maniacs: Cherry Tree
Delightful rock version of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto brought to mind by M’s classical post the other day. From the 1970 album Friend’s Friend’s Friend.
Written by Burt Bacharach, Luther Dixon and Mack David, brother of Hal David, this reached No 8 in America in 1961. 8 I have to say I find it a … Continue readingThe Shirelles: Baby It’s You
LAST week we saw Lou Reed quitting the Velvet Underground in 1970, dismayed at their lack of commercial success – just as their talents were about to be acknowledged. So … Continue readingLou walks on the wild side
From the 1992 album Goin’ Back to New Orleans. RIP Mac Rebennack, died June 2019.
Carole wrote this in 1971 as a response to Taylor’s song Fire and Rain, which includes the line: ‘I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.’ She … Continue readingCarole King/James Taylor: You’ve Got a Friend
Another of those ‘Wow, you’re suddenly all grown up’ songs. This was written by Brian Wilson and released in 1965. It is said that radio stations did not like the … Continue readingThe Beach Boys: The Little Girl I Once Knew
Schubert wrote this piano duet between January and March of 1828, the last year of his life, when he knew that he was dying. He dedicated it to his pupil … Continue readingSchubert Fantasy in F minor, D 940
This is the fifth in a weekly series celebrating the immense Jewish contribution to popular music over the last century. RICHARD Rodgers and Lorenz Hart returned from Hollywood to a triumph with … Continue readingThe Melody Makers 5: Rodgers and Hart, Part II