Mark Pentleton

A wonderfully romantic (if a tad politically incorrect) song today – Let’s do it, let’s fall in love by Cole Porter dating from 1928. Unfortunately the reasons for thinking of this song today have more today with geekdom than romance: last night Apple announced the new range of iPods and while Steve Jobs was demoing [...]

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Oh it’s a long, long time from May to December. At least from May 1st until December 1st it’s 214 songs! Around half way through comes 1st September and I thought Kurt Weil’s 1938 song was the perfect song to play today. I hope you enjoy it!

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The words “perfect day” came to mind last night as we walked along Ayr beach in beautiful late-summer sunshine (even if it was a bit cold!) so I decided to play Perfect Day as the last song of August’s 365songs. Dating from 1972, Lou Reed included this on his Transformer album. It also featured in [...]

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Another jazz standard today: first recorded by Bing Crosby in 1934, this song has been covered by many artists including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and the famous Ella Fitzgerald version with the Nelson Riddle orchestra. Hope you enjoy today’s song!

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Today’s song is a very special request for our son who turns 9 today! Happy birthday, Matthew! The Super Mario Bros theme was written by Koji Kondo who has written all the music for the Mario games and also the Legend of Zelda.

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Today’s song was requested by my mum who celebrates her birthday today. I’ve been warned not to say too much or mention her age, so I’ll simply say “happy birthday, Mum!” Fly me to the moon was written in 1954 by Bart Howard and has been recorded by many artists from Nat King Cole to [...]

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Although I got back from Ireland last night I’m still in a bit of an Irish mood so I thought I’d play this song today. It’s a beautiful song in the 1970s by Pete St. John, set during the famine of the 1840s, and tells the tale of Michael, a fictional man from Athenry in [...]

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I’ve been thinking about all things Irish the past few days because I’ve been working in Dublin since Sunday on the “Digital Boot Camp” where I’ve been training 75 teachers from all over Ireland in podcasting, film-making, photo editing, etc. I recorded today’s song at the weekend and I think at the time I read [...]

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This song comes from the 1996 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Whistle down the wind. A pop version was released by Boyzone in the same year and reached #1 in the UK and Ireland.

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Today’s song is from the 1992 Disney film Aladdin and was written by Tim Rice (lyrics) and Alan Menken (music). The less said about Peter André and Jordan’s version the better…!

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I’ve really liked this song ever since I first heard it a few years ago in Norway. It’s a Swedish song, written by Beppe Wolgers and Olle Adolphson and it seems to be pretty well-known in Sweden. I first heard it performed by Carola, and Alexander Rybak singing it at the summer singalong concert Allsång på [...]

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Today’s song dates from 1928 when it was first written for a never-published operetta by George and Ira Gershwin called East is West. It was introduced in 1930 in the musical Girl Crazy by Ginger Rogers.

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This song is sung by Mary Magdalene and the Apostles just after Jesus is condemned by Herod in the musical and the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar. I particularly like the chorus of this song: the line “I think you’ve made your point now”, and the following line which is sung in sixths by [...]

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Back in 1985, following BandAid’s Do they know it’s Christmas project in the UK, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote this song to be performed by a ’supergroup’ featuring many of the biggest recording artists in the US at the time including Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Cyndi Lauper and Bruce Springsteen. Since its [...]

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Tonight I decided to play Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Pie Jesu from his 1985 Requiem Mass. It was dedicated to his father who died in 1982 and the recording featured his then-wife Sarah Brightman and Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo, conducted by Lorin Maazel.

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With the schools going back here in Scotland today and everyone’s children moving on another year, today’s song probably should have been Slipping through my fingers – but I played that back in March! Instead I chose Elton John’s beautiful 1973 song to Marilyn Monroe Candle in the wind. I love the 1986 live version [...]

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Today’s song is especially for my niece and nephew Aimee and Angus who celebrate their 10th birthday today. I’m fairly certain this is the first Katy Perry song I’ve played on 365songs! California Gurls has been a huge hit this summer and topped the charts in the UK, US, Russia, Poland, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada [...]

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When choosing a Billy Joel song for Celeste the other day I recorded Leave a tender moment alone as well as An innocent man. Leave a tender moment first appeared on the 1984 album An Innocent Man and was subsequently released as a single. In a move virtually unheard of today, the song didn’t have [...]

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“I’ll walk through this world until my feet hurt – then I’ll walk a little further. And I’ll ask everyone until there are no more answers – then I’ll ask again.”
This beautiful Italian song was first recorded by Zucchero in 1984, but it was the 2006 Laura Pausini version which I first heard. The title [...]

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Today’s song comes from the musical Martin Guerre, written by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil of Les Misérables fame. Based on the real-life historical figure Martin Guerre, the musical was first produced in London in 1996. The young Martin Guerre is forced into an arranged marriage with Bertrande in order to produce a Catholic heir in [...]

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