Mark Pentleton

Today’s song is the theme from the 1982 film The Snowman based on the children’s book Raymond Briggs. It was written by Howard Blake and sung by Peter Auty in the film, but popularised by Aled Jones in a single which reached number 5 in the UK charts at Christmas 1985. It has been parodied, [...]

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I’ve been wondering what to play all day today for a Hallowe’en-themed song, and it wasn’t until I saw Anton Du Beke in Strictly Come Dancing tonight dancing to the Ghostbusters theme that I realised this was the piece of music to play! It was written in 1984 by Ray Parker Jr for the soundtrack [...]

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Having spent much of today in Glasgow at a meeting, returning home to watch The Apprentice and updating the latest episode of News Time Spanish, I had switched off my computer, only to realise that I’d forgotten to upload today’s song. And on this, the 300th day of the year, too! I recorded this song [...]

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I don’t quite believe I’m playing this! Ah well… Following many repeated requests from my other sister-in-law and regular listener Fiona, I’ve finally succumbed to “a bit of Dolly”! I’ve blues-ified it a bit, but it still doesn’t take away from the fact I’m playing Dolly Parton… Hope you enjoy it Fiona!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:47 [...]

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This Whitney Houston song dates from 1988 and was included on her first album. It went to #1 on the Billboard charts in the US, but only reached #14 in the UK.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:22 — 6.0MB)

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This song is for my friend and colleague Lisa Steven who celebrated her birthday yesterday and who requested something from Miss Saigon for her special day. I hope she didn’t mind waiting a day given the events in Chile! I Still Believe is from the 1989 musical Miss Saigon written by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain [...]

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I’m cutting it a bit neat again tonight, but I’ve been up to my eyes all day today with work. Despite that I’ve been watching the events unfold at the San José mine in Chile as the trapped miners are rescued one by one. As I write this 30 of the 33 miners have been [...]

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This Michael Jackson dates from 1988 and was nominated for record of the year in the Grammy Awards of that year. It maybe lacks something without his vocals, the gospel choir and Quincy Jones’ keyboard arrangements, but I hope you enjoy today’s performance anyway!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:33 — 6.3MB)

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I’m sticking with more Andrew Lloyd Webber today after yesterday’s Take that look off your face. Think of me is from Phantom of the Opera. After the appearance of the phantom, the diva Carlotta refuses to sing and chorus girl Christine Daaé steps up to perform this song to the surprise of the opera producers.
Podcast: [...]

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Today’s song comes from the one-woman show Tell me on a Sunday written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black. I’ve played two other songs from this show: Unexpected Song and Tell me on a Sunday itself, and I thought that this well-known song from the show would suit my 365songs project. It was released [...]

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This song takes me back – my brother Derek and I used to sing along to this song, probably long before we understood the lyrics. It was released on Billy Joel’s 1982 album The Nylon Curtain, and is one of the most well-known songs about the Vietnam War. Not sure about the dodgy helicopter sound [...]

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Today’s 365song has to be one of the most well-known instrumental themes from a 20th Century film. Written by Vangelis for the 1981 film Chariots of Fire which tells the story of two athletes set to take part in the 1924 Olympics, this piece of music was a step away from the accepted standard for [...]

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“One of us is crying…” – it’ll be the one who has been to Ikea three times this week! Need I say more?
One of us was one of the last songs recorded for the Visitors album in 1981 and became the first single from this album. Despite its rather melancholy air (I guess Benny and [...]

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I’m cutting things a bit neat today, due to a late-night visit to Ikea! I was reminded about this beautiful song from Les Misérables by Amy who sang it this week as an audition piece for the Centre Stage production of the show. The song is sung as Éponine dies in the arms of Marius [...]

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A bit of classic cheese from 1983 today – Islands in the stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. It was originally written by the Bee Gees and was included in their 2001 live album. The song has been covered by many artists including Ingela Forsman – in Swedish as Öar i ett hav – [...]

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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.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:23 — 6.1MB)

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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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Today’s song is Billy Joel’s 1983 classic An Innocent Man and it was specially requested by Celeste Teenan who celebrates her birthday today. Happy birthday, Celeste! Hope you have a lovely day and that you enjoy the song.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:21 — 7.4MB)

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Today’s song is taken from the musical Chess. When Benny and Björn were writing the musical, Björn would add lyrics to Benny’s music to help give the song more rhythm and meaning. They then sent their “demos” to Tim Rice who wrote the final version of the lyrics. Heaven help my heart was actually recorded [...]

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