Mark Pentleton

This beautiful song is especially for Frank and Johanna in Canada who apparently tune in every day at breakfast to my songs. I missed Frank and Johanna’s wedding anniversary in August, so I asked them what they’d like me to play for them and this is what they came up with. Both sides now was [...]

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Today’s song is dedicated to Fiona and Andrew who celebrate their wedding anniversary today. I promised them something cool yet romantic, so I hope this fits the bill! The song dates from 1967 and was first performed by Frankie Valli and soon after in 1968 by Andy Williams. It’s probably Andy Williams’ version we’re most [...]

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As promised yesterday, this song is dedicated to my sister Clare and her husband Eamon who celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary yesterday. I am reliably informed by my wife that their first dance was to this song (I have no idea how she remembers these things…) so I hope I’ve got all the details right! [...]

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As I reach the end of my sixth month here on 365songs I’ve chosen the “most played song of the 20th Century” in the US, according to Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). You’ve lost that loving feeling by The Righteous Brothers was first released in 1964, although I think I only got to know the song [...]

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Today’s song comes from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. First performed as a 15-minute “pop-cantata” in 1968, the show has grown into a full-length West End and Broadway production featuring performers such as Jason Donovan, Philip Schofield and Donny Osmond.

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It wasn’t until I listened to the evening news on the radio in the car last night that I realised the significance of yesterday’s date. For many years my Italian grandmother would reminisce about the sad events which happened on 10th June 1940 when Churchill infamously gave the order, “Collar the lot!”, referring to Germans [...]

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Today’s song is the 1965 Petula Clark song Downtown. Hope you enjoy it. Sorry if you were hoping for a long story about what this song means to me – I’ve had a really busy day and Junior Apprentice is on in 5 minutes!

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In Scotland it always seems that we get our best weather in May, so I thought this would be an appropriate song to begin a new month with. It was written by George Harrison one afternoon in 1969 as he walked around Eric Clapton’s garden, playing one of his acoustic guitars!

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Today’s song is Up on the roof, written by Carly Simon and Gerry Goffin. It was first recorded by the Drifters in 1962, and later by various artists including James Taylor, Little Eva and Carly Simon herself. Hope you enjoy today’s performance!

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Tomorrow we’ll conclude the Kristina från Duvemåla series, but I wanted to do something different today: Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World is dedicated to Catriona – today is our wedding anniversary and I wanted to play one of her favourite songs.

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Ok, so I couldn’t resist doing a special performance for April Fools’ day! Here’s the real version of the 1968 Beatles classic, Hey Jude. I hope you enjoy this a bit more than my earlier post!

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Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 1967 originally for Dionne Warwick, this is one of those songs which has the musical equivalent of a few imperfect subjunctives! There is a bar of 10/4 in the verse, and the chorus is in 11/4 (2 bars of 4/4 and a bar of 3/4). It was [...]

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Today’s song is the Henry Mancini song Moon River from 1961, originally written for Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I hope you enjoy my performance!

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Today’s song is dedicated to my friend and former colleague Joan Herald who teaches at Mearns Castle. This was always Joan’s song and she has sung it countless times at many wonderful parties, concerts, and even once or twice in class I think! I’ve been told that Joan and her colleague Jim McKenna have been [...]

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I’m changing style a bit for today’s song. The Girl from Ipanema, or Garota de Ipanema was written by Antonio Carlos Jobim in 1962, and became a worldwide hit when it was performed by Astrud Gilberto, accompanied by João Gilberto and Stan Getz. I hope you enjoy my version!

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Stranger on the shore was originally written for clarinet by Acker Bilk and was released in 1961. It was originally called Jenny, named after his daughter but was then used as the theme of a BBC series of the same name. No clarinet today – just me on the piano as usual!

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Week 2 begins today – with Yesterday! Beautiful song, first released in 1965. According to the Guinness Book of Records, this song has the most cover versions of any song ever written. Here’s another one to throw into the mix!

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“This one’s going out to Sorcha and Paul in Northern Ireland…” If you’re interested, you can find out more about the song on Wikipedia.

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