My life in song and pictures

I loved Elvis even before I loved the Beatles. I still think he's fabulous. This isn't his best song but it's another opportunity to see me and Younger Son embarrass ourselves.

My life in song and pictures (yesterday's)

As Wales played Italy yesterday afternoon I tried to think of an Italian sort of song for my choice but the best I could come up with was 'Bangers and mash! Rigatoni!' But that led me to Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren singing, 'Goodness, gracious me.' 


I noticed there were comments on the youtube pages about this being incredibly racist so, though it was a song from my childhood and one I can sing now at the rise of a pulse rate, I decided against it. (And the youtube clips weren't brilliant.) But Peter Sellers remained in my mind and I remembered - vaguely - the excitement in 1961 when he and Britt Ekland were in Swansea for the filming of Only Two Can Play. The film is based on That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley Amis who taught at Swansea University for a time.


I certainly recall watching the film mainly for the 'Oh, that's constitution hill, that's the library,' thrill. You only to get to see the outside of Swansea library; the inside is a set. Incidentally the old Swansea Library is now an arts centre and we have a fabulous new one on the sea front, which makes up in airiness what it lacks in grandeur.


This was the only clip I could find from the film and could well be considered racist as instead of a Pakistani accent Sellers adopts a Welsh one - although the two are often interchangeable!

My life in song and pictures

As a child Saturday mornings meant one thing to me: Children's Favourites with Uncle Mac on the radio. So it was a toss-up today between The Ugly Duckling, Sparky's Magic Piano and, the one I finally chose, The Laughing Policeman.


My great-uncle and grandfather both worked at Mumbles pier and I spent a lot of time there. My favourite thing in the arcade was a laughing drunken sailor. Thinking about it, it might not have been a sailor. I've just googled it and the closest thing I can come up with is this Drunkard's Dream machine, which I think it quite possibly was.


Which is a very strange thing to like ...


And now I don't think he laughed either. So it bears no relevance to my musical choice. But quite interesting (to me) anyway.

I'm beginning to think a psychiatrist may have a field day with my choices.

My life in song and pictures

My life in song and pictures

Today's choice is a song I'd never heard before today and I've chosen it just because of the title: This Time Next Year. Having said that it's a pretty good song!


My novel, although not finally named until a few weeks ago, has been a part of my life for nearly 10 years. That's a huge amount of time to invest in something so excuse me if I'm a little over-excited and boring.


Writing it was the comparatively easy part; trying to get it published was the impossibly difficult and depressing bit. I've sent it to more agents than you'd think there'd be work for. I've come close, I've changed the style, I've bent over backwards to do everything that the how-to books and articles recommend, but no-one felt strongly enough about it to take it on.


I've been up, I've been down, I've been, 'That's it, it's going in the drawer for ever!' Then a few weeks ago Elder Son sent me an article he'd read about self-publishing an eBook and the rest is history. Although it's not; the rest is to come.


The promotion, the marketing, what will undoubtedly be the continuing ups and downs as people do or don't buy my book, as reviews rate it the best thing since Bridget Jones, or the worst since the last worst book they read, all lie ahead of me. 
But for today, I'm a happy bunny.

My life in song and pictures

Something to calm the soul.

My life in song and pictures

Jules, our trainer, commented last week that he's been taking these circuit training classes now for 10 years, which means I've been doing circuits for at least 9 years. For a number of years I was doing 2 classes a week and I must be fitter than I was even though it's not apparent to me sometimes!


Way back when, I bought the Jane Fonda workout LP, in an attempt to get fit. My enthusiasm for that didn't last long. It's much easier to exercise when you pay for a class, you're committed to going and you have a set time for it. Trying to fit in a bit of exercise here and there just doesn't work for me; I'm not disciplined enough.


Anyway, today's song is one of those that Ms Fonda included on her LP and it made a lasting impression on me: I can't hear it without clenching my buttocks.

My life in song and pictures (Saturday)

The Boss. Need I say more?

My life in song and pictures

The news of the death of Davy Jones has given me my choice of song for today. I loved the Monkees show and Davy in particular.

My life in song and pictures

I've never seen the film but this a song I frequently sing, especially on days like we've had recently when Spring is in the air.

My life in song and pictures

One of my favourite hymns.

My life in songs and pictures

I only appreciated the beauty of classics like this much later on in my life. Now this is one of my favourite songs.

 

My life in song and pictures

My brain is a bit addled today and I'm struggling to think of songs or films but this song is so much part of my life these days that it seems an appropriate choice. This version only includes some of the choruses; they can go on for ever with a little imagination (and deep breathing).

My life in songs and pictures

Where Harvey's name came from.

My life in song and pictures

There could only be one choice for the song today, the day when Wales take on 'the old enemy' England in Twickers.





Land of my birth, land of my fathers, I love the country that helped shape who I am. (But don't be put off Wales by that!)

My life in music and pictures

My brother-in-law-in-law introduced me to this gypsy punk band a number of years ago. He sent me this song and I loved it so much I instantly ordered their CD. Since then we've been to the live show (in a dive in Nottingham) and I would love to see them again. The live show bursts with energy and life and gave me my short-lived ambition to be a girl who screams and dances while leaping from drum to drum. (Short-lived because realism took over unfortunately.)


Gogol Bordello 

My life in song and pictures 2

Lent was a pretty boring title for this series so this is longer but says more.
This song from 1963 marked the start of my life-long love of the Beatles.

Lent 1

Over on Facebook Mauigirl asked what were people's best ever films and that inspired my choice of a Lenten theme. One year, maybe last year, I was grateful for something each day of Lent; this year I'm going to pick songs and films that have contributed to my life in some way. They're not necessarily the best and don't always have a particular deep meaning for me; I may just like something I hear on that day. Forty or forty-two, or however many days it is, is quite a lot after all. I will be grateful for each and every one of my choices though because they'll have added to my enjoyment of this wonderful life - which should be a cue or a clue but isn't.


No, my first choice is the film I nominated in response to Mauigirl's question. It was the first film that came into my mind and though it's not a major award-winning epic I remember leaving the cinema after seeing it saying, 'That was the best thing since sliced bread.'


Dead Poets Society (1989), starring Robin Williams





Some time afterwards Husband bought me the video but I've never watched it. I wanted to keep the awe of seeing it for the first time. There are films you can watch again and again but this one was so special I feared it would be less so if I saw it again. Having now watched the trailer I think I'm going to dig it out and enjoy afresh.