Mark Pentleton

Today’s song dates from 1947 and was written by Frank Loesser, the lyricist of over 700 songs from films and musicals including Baby, it’s cold outside, On a slow boat to China, Two sleepy people and the musical Guys and Dolls. The first time I heard this song it was sung by Harry Connick Jr [...]

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This is one of my all-time favourite Christmas songs, and it has to be the original Nat King Cole version from 1946! It was written by Mel Tormé and Bob Wells in the heat of the 1944 summer: the idea was that Tormé and Wells would “stay cool by thinking cool” about Jack Frost biting [...]

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And so, December has begun and across the UK we’re surrounded by snow. I’m currently in Edinburgh working on the Apple K20 tour and the city is looking fantastic with snow everywhere. The event is taking place at Edinburgh Castle and I took a few photos this morning before things got started properly.
Winter Wonderland is [...]

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It’s November and since most of December’s 365songs will probably have a festive feel, I’ve been having a look at some of the songs that I really enjoy playing that I want to fit in before the end of the month. I couldn’t believe that I’d not played Misty! This song dates from 1954 and [...]

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This song dates from the 1920s and is probably one of the most well-known Cuban songs. It has been covered by many artists, from Nana Mouskouri to Tito Puente and Joan Baez. The song was traditionally used as a vehicle for social commentary, with performers improvising verses according to events or situations, but always returning [...]

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This is such a lovely song and I hope I’ve done it justice! It was written by Jerome Kern in 1936 with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Apparently when Kern played the melody to Dorothy Fields for the first time, she “went out and started to cry. I couldn’t stop, it was so beautiful!” The song [...]

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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.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:17 — 8.7MB)

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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!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:12 — 4.4MB)

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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!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:11 — 7.2MB)

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