25 December 2010 1 Comment

359/365 Songs (2): Have yourself a merry little Christmas

359/365 Songs (2): Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Here’s the second song for today – probably my all-time favourite Christmas song. I hope you enjoy this song and I hope you enjoy your Christmas day wherever you are!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:55 — 8.2MB)

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19 December 2010 0 Comments

353/365 Songs: Silent Night

353/365 Songs: Silent Night

Today’s 365song is the beautiful Christmas carol which dates from 1818 when Franz Gruber famously composed this piece of music with a guitar accompaniment based on the words by Father Joseph Mohr because the church organ was not working and Midnight Mass in the village of Oberndorf was fast approaching. I hope you enjoy my [...]

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17 December 2010 0 Comments

351/365 Songs: Oh Holy Night

351/365 Songs: Oh Holy Night

This is one of my favourite pieces of Christmas music. The original version was composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 as a musical accompaniment to Placide Cappeau’s Christmas poem, Minuit Chrétiens (”Midnight, Christians”). I remember hearing the French version on the soundtrack of the film La Neige et le Feu which I saw at Christmas [...]

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7 December 2010 1 Comment

341/365 Songs: O Come All Ye Faithful

341/365 Songs: O Come All Ye Faithful

Today’s Christmas 365song is Adeste Fideles, or O Come All Ye Faithful. It apparently dates from the 13th century and has been translated into many languages from the original Latin. One of my favourite performances of this carol is by Lisa Fischer on the soundtrack of Home Alone 2.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:47 — 6.6MB)

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28 November 2010 0 Comments

332/365 Songs: Adagio Cantabile from Sonata No.8 – Beethoven

332/365 Songs: Adagio Cantabile from Sonata No.8 – Beethoven

I’m running a bit late with this today. I got back from Strasbourg yesterday (just 2 hours late because of the snow) and my pre-recorded run of tunes ran out with Michael Bublé yesterday! I decided to play something classical today. This second movement of Beethoven’s piano sonata no.8 in C minor is probably one [...]

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20 November 2010 1 Comment

324/365 Songs: All the things you are – Jerome Kern

324/365 Songs: All the things you are – Jerome Kern

This song was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in 1939 for the musical Very warm for May. Musically this song is very interesting, and there’s an in-depth analysis of the chord patterns on Wikipedia. Apparently the chord patterns and modulations “present challenges for the improviser”. I’d agree! The song has been recorded [...]

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19 November 2010 0 Comments

323/365 Songs: I write the songs – Barry Manilow

323/365 Songs: I write the songs – Barry Manilow

Today’s song was written by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys in 1975 and was made famous by Barry Manilow, winning a Grammy Award in 1976. It is often thought that the “I” of the song refers to the songwriter, but according to Johnston the “I” is music itself. I write the songs has been [...]

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9 November 2010 0 Comments

313/365 Songs: Move on – Abba

313/365 Songs: Move on – Abba

This song was recorded in 1977 and the various working titles for the song included Yippee Yay, Joanne, Love for me is love forever and the rather cryptic Big John. I’m glad it ended up as Move on, not Big John!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:48 — 8.0MB)

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10 October 2010 0 Comments

283/365 Songs: Man in the mirror – Michael Jackson

283/365 Songs: Man in the mirror – Michael Jackson

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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18 September 2010 0 Comments

261/365 Songs: Young at heart – Frank Sinatra

261/365 Songs: Young at heart – Frank Sinatra

This song was popularised by Frank Sinatra in 1953 and sold over a million copies, so much so that it was decided that the film that Sinatra was working on at the time should also be called Young at Heart.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:18 — 4.6MB)

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30 August 2010 0 Comments

242/365 Songs: The very thought of you

242/365 Songs: The very thought of you

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!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:52 — 5.4MB)

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18 July 2010 0 Comments

199/365 Songs: Easy (like a Sunday morning) – The Commodores

199/365 Songs: Easy (like a Sunday morning) – The Commodores

A good song for a Sunday morning! This 1977 classic was written by Lionel Richie and was also covered by Faith No More in 1992. Hope you enjoy today’s song. I’ll need to think of something appropriate for tomorrow – it’s song number 200!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:58 — 5.5MB)

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6 July 2010 1 Comment

187/365 Songs: Panis Angelicus – César Franck

187/365 Songs: Panis Angelicus – César Franck

This is a complete change from the type of music I’ve been playing recently, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. The Franck setting of the prayer Panis Angelicus (Bread of Angels) dates from 1872 and has been recorded by many artists including Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:08 — 5.7MB)

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8 June 2010 0 Comments

159/365 Songs: Footprints in the Sand – Leona Lewis

159/365 Songs: Footprints in the Sand – Leona Lewis

This song is dedicated to my former pupil Katie who marries Callum this weekend. I was speaking to Katie’s friend Esther recently – both Katie and Esther sang in the choir I ran at Mearns Castle – and Esther is going to be singing this Leona Lewis song at Katie and Callum’s wedding, so I [...]

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18 May 2010 2 Comments

138/365 Songs: Den Ensomme Veien – Sigvart Dagsland

138/365 Songs: Den Ensomme Veien – Sigvart Dagsland

Sticking with the Norwegian theme following yesterday’s National Day celebrations, I wanted to add in one other Norwegian song. This is one of my all-time favourite songs sung by Norwegian singer Sigvart Dagsland. The song is called Den Ensomme Veien, which translates roughly as “the lonely road”. I’ve done a rough translation of the lyrics [...]

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11 May 2010 1 Comment

131/365 Songs: Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler

131/365 Songs: Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler

Yes, I was watching Glee last night! The song was first released back in 1983 and must have one of the strangest videos ever (which was expertly recreated in a literal version a few years back). I hope you enjoy my version of this classic “rock ballad”!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:47 — 6.6MB)

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7 May 2010 0 Comments

127/365 Songs: The Power of love – Jennifer Rush

127/365 Songs: The Power of love – Jennifer Rush

I haven’t included many big ‘power ballads’ in my collection so far, so I thought I’d play this song from 1984 by Jennifer Rush. It was covered by Laura Branigan in 1987 and then by Céline Dion in 1993. Hope you enjoy today’s song!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:35 — 7.7MB)

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15 April 2010 1 Comment

105/365 Songs: Three times a lady – Lionel Ritchie

105/365 Songs: Three times a lady – Lionel Ritchie

I’ve spent the last five days in Cheltenham at the Apple Teacher Institute and last night, after the Showcase of the work produced by teachers in the workshops, we kept the tradition going with a night of karaoke and general silliness. Eddie, one of our teacher-performers, sang Three times a lady (and an unforgettable Purple [...]

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5 April 2010 1 Comment

95/365 Songs: Maria Elena

95/365 Songs: Maria Elena

Today’s song is a bit of a rarity. I don’t think it’s particularly well-known in the UK or the US – although I may be wrong! It was written by Lorenzo Barcelata in 1932 and was dedicated to the wife of the Mexican President Emilio Portes Gil. It has been used in a few films, [...]

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23 March 2010 0 Comments

82/365 Songs: Stormy Weather

82/365 Songs: Stormy Weather

Recorded by such famous names as Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday, this song came to mind last night as I was getting petrol on my way home from a meeting at the school. I got completely soaked in torrential rain and howling wind and I since I was returning home to [...]

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