Mark Pentleton

Yesterday I asked my son Ewan what song I should play today and he immediately suggested You’ve got a friend in me. He’s just seen Toy Story 3 with his brother and mum (I’ve not seen it yet, but look forward to seeing it some time soon!) so this seemed like a good song to [...]

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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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Given that today is Fathers’ Day, I asked my dad what song he’d like me to play, so this one is for him! Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I’m sure there’s a photo somewhere of my mum and dad at the Trevi fountain. If not, there’s definitely one of the whole family there in 1980… Dad?
The [...]

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I’ve been saving this song for my father-in-law Tony who celebrates his birthday today – I believe it’s one of his favourite songs. Written in 1933 by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach for the musical Roberta, it went on to become a standard with covers by performers as diverse as Louis Armstrong, Cher, Richard Clayderman [...]

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I’m not a massive fan of Céline Dion, but she has recorded some songs which are absolutely beautiful, including this one from 1996 which was used in the film Up Close and Personal. It was written by Diane Warren (there’s another Diane Warren song coming up later this week!) and was number 1 in many [...]

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I like to think that I’m keeping things as varied as possible here on 365songs – in the past few days we’ve had TV Themes, Opera, Disney, 80s Power Ballad and today I’m returning to what is probably my favourite type of music to play with Gershwin’s They can’t take that away from me. It [...]

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This song was written by Gerhard Winkler and Fred Rauch and was originally called Mutterlein. However, in 1952, David Whitfield and Frankie Lane recorded an English version, written by Carl Sigman. I have to be honest – I had no idea about the history of this song, and I’ve been playing it for years. It [...]

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Song 120 is the title song from the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast. Written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, it won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1992. We’re four months into the project now. I’d be interested to know if you have any favourites so far? Let me know in the [...]

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Today’s song is another of the Irish tunes I played the other night in Cheltenham. It’s sometimes  known as Our Wedding Day. This is a beautiful song and I’ve decided to do something a bit different today – I’ve combined the piano sounds of my Roland RD-700GX with some of the on-board synth pads to [...]

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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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Happy Easter to one and all. Today’s piece of music is Cavatina by Stanley Myers. It was recorded by guitarist John Williams and was used for the 1970 film The Walking Stick. Then in 1973 Cleo Laine wrote lyrics and recorded He Was Beautiful, accompanied by John Williams on guitar. It only became a top [...]

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Today’s song is a bit late – sorry! I’ve spent the past eight days travelling with my work, firstly to the Czech Republic and then to the Ukraine, delivering workshops for Apple Education. I’d recorded the past week’s songs before I left and have been activating them each day of my trip, but I’ve been [...]

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Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh! Here’s the traditional Irish song Danny Boy / The Derry Air to wish you all a very happy St Patrick’s day!

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A beautiful song today – the Cole Porter classic Ev’ry time we say goodbye which was popularised when Ella Fitzgerald recorded it in 1956. I hope you enjoy something nice and calm for the end of a busy week!

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Today’s song is the Gershwin classic But not for me, written for the musical Girl Crazy in 1930. It’s since featured in the movies Manhattan, When Harry Met Sally and Four Weddings and a Funeral. By the sounds of things I need to practise my jazz scales a bit more – the middle section is [...]

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This song was written by Rolf Løvland and Brendan Graham and was originally included on the 2002 Secret Garden album Once in a Red Moon. Since then it has been covered by many famous artists including Josh Groban and Westlife who recently sang it at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize concert celebrating Barack Obama’s win. [...]

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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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It’s day 50 on 365songs and  today’s performance is the classic 1942 song As time goes by from the film Casablanca. It was actually first written in 1931 and featured in the musical Everybody’s Welcome, but was made famous when it was performed by Sam  in Casablanca. This song was actually named as #2 in [...]

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A bit of Shania Twain today with the song You’re still the one, and I’m back playing today after the thumb incident! This song was nominated for four Grammy awards in 1999, and won two: Best Country Song and Best Female Vocal Country Performance, and it’s no.66 on the Billboard All-Time Hot 100 Top Songs!

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How do you measure a year? In daylights, in midnights, in sunsets or in cups of coffee? This is probably the best known song from the musical Rent, and was one of the many songs we used to do with the choir when I taught at Mearns Castle. It probably needs a bit more than [...]

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