Mark Pentleton

This isn’t actually a Christmas song, but I’ve always associated it with Christmas because it was one of our standard programme numbers from the Mearns Castle choir days when we used to perform at Princes Square in Glasgow at Christmas. It was written for Céline Dion by David Foster and Babyface for the opening ceremony [...]

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This song is from the soundtrack of the 1990 movie Home Alone and was featured in the movie as Somewhere in my memory. The version I know best is the Spanish version recorded by Ana Belén and used in the end credits of the movie in Spain.
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This song was a collaboration between Santana and Rob Thomas from the rock group Matchbox Twenty and it reached #1 in the US and Canadian  charts in 1999 and #3 in the UK. It’s probably #1 on my karaoke list, but the less said about that the better!
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The accordion is back! When I was listening to the Ronan Keating version of today’s song I heard an accordion in the arrangement and thought perhaps it was time to resurrect my own accordion! I’ll need to get practising before my forthcoming trip to Strasbourg when I’ll have to play the accordion for various Swedish [...]

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I’m not sure how well this song is known. It is from the 1992 Chris de Burgh album The Power of Ten and I’ve always liked it – probably something to do with listening to it while I was living in France in 1992. The Connemara connection was strengthened by Sardou’s Les Lacs du Connemara [...]

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This song is for everyone who spent half of today trying to get through to the ticket lines or developing repetitive strain injuries by refreshing the Ticketmaster website trying to get hold of a Take That ticket for their tour next summer. We tried, but we didn’t get through, and now it seems that almost [...]

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I’m not sure if what I’ve done with this song quite works, but I hope you enjoy it! Wonderwall was released by Oasis in 1995 and has been covered by various folk, including the tongue-in-cheek Mike Flowers Pops, and in a swing version by Paul Anka (which is actually very good!) I’ve tried to make [...]

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After yesterday’s relatively unknown song, today I’m playing what is probably one of the best-known songs of the 90s. At least according to the Performing Rights Society, it’s officially the most popular karaoke song! Hope you enjoy today’s song.
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Originally recorded by Bob Dylan in 1997, this song has since had successful covers by Billy Joel, Garth Brooks and most recent Adele. It’s also featured heavily in the current series of X Factor. I hope you enjoy my performance!
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Time for a bit more Disney. Can you feel the love tonight was written by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice and featured in the 1994 Disney movie The Lion King. It was performed in the movie by various characters, and the Elton John recording was played over the end credits.
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If you thought yesterday was cheesy, today is worse! I mentioned that I’d played Hero to someone yesterday and they immediately thought of the Mariah Carey version, so I thought I’d add this to my collection. It probably lacks something without Mariah’s warbling, but I hope you like it nonetheless.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:56 — 5.5MB)

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Today’s song is dedicated to my brother Derek who celebrates his birthday today. His request at 3am this morning for Flight of the Bumblebee is a bit out of my league, so I hope that my song choice is ok. More than words was written in 1990 and performed by Gary Cherone on vocals and [...]

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Given the time I thought that this would probably be a good song to play tonight! It was first recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1955 and since then has been covered by many artists including Nanci Griffith, Barbara Streisand, Carly Simon and Jamie Cullum. And now me, just before the stroke of midnight!
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I was at the beach the other day and overheard someone singing this song so I thought I’d play it today. It dates from 1972 and the original version was performed by Johnny Nash. Subsequent covers have included a version by the Hothouse Flowers in 1990, and Jimmy Cliff’s version in 1993 which featured in the [...]

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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…!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:29 — 3.5MB)

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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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This song was originally released in 1995 by The Corrs and didn’t do particularly well in the charts, other than in Ireland and Australia. A remixed version by Tin Tin Out was released in 1999 and was only kept off the #1 spot in the UK by Britney Spears and her début single Baby One [...]

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This song was originally released by World Party in 1997 but the version that most people are familiar with is the #1 single by Robbie Williams, released in 1999. Since Robbie got married a few days ago I thought I’d play one of his songs this week, so I hope you enjoy She’s the one.
Podcast: [...]

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Today it’s the final song in my Sunset Boulevard ‘trio’: Too much in love to care, sung by Joe, the struggling screenwriter and Betty, the script editor. I hope you’ve enjoyed these songs from Sunset Boulevard!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:26 — 6.1MB)

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Today I’m playing the first of a trio of songs from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Sunset Boulevard based on the 1950 film of the same name. With one look is sung by the principal character in response to the comment “you used to be big”. Norma Desmond states, “I am big – it’s the [...]

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