Song of the Week: Alessandro Scarlatti: O Cessate Di Piagarmi

This is a version of an aria from 17th and 18th century composer Alessandro Scarlatti's opera 'Il Pompeo' by Nora Fischer & guitarist Marnix Dorrestein, taken from Nora's 2018 album.  

'O cessate di piagarmi, o lasciatemi morir (wound me no more, leave me to die)'

Song of the Week: Nancy Sinatra - You Only Live Twice

Some Bond songs are memorable, and there's Lulu's 'The Man with the Golden Gun'. 

Nancy Sinatra nails it.

Song of the Week: Led Zeppelin - Ramble On

'Zep' are known for hard rock based on the blues, but they had a melodic side as well as 'Ramble On', from their second album, demonstrates. Singer Robert Plant liked his Tolkien and the song references 'Lord of the Rings.'

Song of the Week: The Lovin' Spoonful - Do you Believe in Magic?

Yes

Song of the Week: Richard Wagner - Das Rheingold (Prelude)

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Richard Wagner revolutionised opera which he saw as a total work of art with music part of a wider visual, poetic and, especially, dramatic experience. 'Das Rheingold' is the first of the four operas in his 'Ring Cycle'. This prelude describes the River Rhine, calm and majestic.

Song of the Week: Paul McCartney - Every Night

When Paul McCartney released his first post-Beatles solo album it didn't do well, at least with the critics. Compared to his radical bandmate John Lennon, he just seemed twee and lo-fi.

Many years later the album is seen as hugely influential. In fact the pendulum has swung on so much of his solo work. Even so, it is hard to believe no-one at the time thought 'Every Night' a great song.

Song of the Week: Eminem - The Real Slim Shady

Marshall Bruce Mathers III (aka Eminem) has announced that he is finishing off his alter ego, Slim Shady. A highly controversial and comic creation he gave vent to what Eminem saw in everyone, though, as is perhaps inevitable, the artist gradually turned in to a grumpy old dad, moaning at what rap had become. Marshall also had his addictions and became close friends with Elton John who helped him through them.

Song of the Week: Fanny Mendelssohn - Prelude & Fugue in E Minor: II. Fugue

Fanny Mendelssohn was a prolific composer of over 400 works, mainly piano pieces and songs, most of which were never published in her lifetime (the first half of the nineteenth century). She was also a very talented pianist herself.

Song of the Week: Roxy Music - Dance Away

Dance away the heartache

Dance away fears

Song of the Week: Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come

'The Harder They Come' is a 1972 Jamaican crime film that achieved international success and played a major role in bringing reggae to a wider audience. Ska and reggae artist Jimmy Cliff was its star and this is the title track.

Song of the Week: The Carter Family - Single Girl, Married Girl

Beyoncé's country album (she cannily calls it a 'Beyoncé' album not a 'Country' album) is inevitably causing much debate, not least about the origins of country music itself. In fact one of the key moments in the emergence of Country was the 1927 Bristol session, recorded in Bristol, Tennessee. The Carter Family were one of the artists at the session and they became one of the first big Country recording stars. This song is from that 1927 session.

Single girl, single girl
She goes to store & buys
Oh, she goes to store & buys
Married girl, married girl
She rocks the cradle & cries
Oh, she rocks the cradle & cries

Song of the Week: Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes

David Bowie wrote this song for Mott the Hoople who at the time were about to break up after limited commercial success. Drummer Dale Griffin said that when they heard the song they thought: "He wants to give us that? He must be crazy! We broke our necks to say yes!" Some vintage socks on view as well.

 

Song of the Week: Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor

The Pandemic was tough on many artists as they were unable to perform. But some thrived, such as Sophie Ellis-Bextor with her live weekly "Kitchen Disco" concerts featuring herself and her family, streamed live from their kitchen on Instagram. All of which helped revive Sophie's career culminating  in the appearance of this track in the movie 'Saltburn' and a spot at the 2024 BAFTAs.

It's Murder on the Dancefloor, but it's worth the wait (DJ).

Song of the Week: Johannes Brahms - Symphony No.3 in F Major - III

Brahms only wrote four symphonies and the first one took him 21 years, but he had hit his stride by the time of the third which he composed in 1883. This is the famous third movement.

Song of the Week: Lady Leshurr – Queen’s Speech Ep.4

Grime music emerged in East London in the early 2000s out of UK jungle and hip-hop with a signature sound of speed to the tune of 140 beats per minute.

Lady Leshurr is one of its female stars.

 

Song of the Week: Otis Redding - I've Been Loving You Too Long

Mr Pitiful at his best with the band smashing it. From the 'Otis Blue' album.

Song of the Week: W. H. Auden & Benjamin Britten - Night Mail

'Night Mail' is an iconic 1936 film made by the Post Office about the night mail train collecting and taking post to Scotland. The words in this last three minutes of the film are by poet W. H. Auden, then still in his twenties, and the music by composer Benjamin Britten, then only 22. The dog is not credited.

Song of the Week: The Small Faces - All or Nothing

It's a chilly night in Stockholm in 1966 and the Small Faces are in town. Check out the young girl dancing at 1.39.

Song of the Week: Madonna - Borderline

Madonna Ciccone is in trouble. Two fans are suing her for coming on stage two hours late. They should count themselves lucky. For those of us old enough to have been to gigs in the last Millennium, two hours is positively early. 

There is much Madonna from which to chose, but your Song of the Week editor, being old, has a soft post for 'Borderline'. Mainly because it is fab.

Song of the Week: The Fall featuring Coldcut - Telephone Thing

When Mark E Smith, founder  of the Fall, heard Coldcut's track 'My Telephone' he thought the guitar, bass and drums fine, but the words, vocals and all the rest of it, rubbish. So he rewrote it (and made it about phone tapping). Smith could be awkward to say the least, and his vocal style (you'd hesitate to call it singing) singular, but he could also be compelling.

Song of the Week: Ralph Vaughan Williams - How Cold the Wind doth Blow

This is a traditional English folk song arranged by English 20th century composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. In it a young man's grief over the death of his true love is so deep that it disturbs her eternal sleep and she tells him to live his life.

Song of the Week: Slapp Happy - Blue Flower

When his record company told avant-garde musician Anthony Moore that his work was not commercial enough he wasn't happy. Or rather he was Slapp Happy, the name he gave to his new band with their deliberately commercial sound.  The band became less commercial subsequently but not before songs such as 'Blue Flower' bloomed. Dagmar Krause provides the distinctive voice.

Song of the Week: The Pogues - A Rainy Night in Soho

Shane McGowan of the Pogues died last week. Aside from all the articles about self-destructive genius and the relentless playing of 'Fairytale of New York' over the next few weeks, it's worth remembering that the Pogues' first three albums are well worth a listen.

Incidentally he went to the same private school (Westminster) as Conrad Shawcross though he was expelled for possessing and selling drugs. Shane that is, not Conrad.

Song of the Week: Al Green - Tired of Being Alone

The Reverend Al Green tells it how it is.

Song of the Week: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - The Marriage of Figaro: Overture

If you are new to opera the Marriage of Figaro is a perfect place to start: satire, silliness and songs. This is the overture where Mozart sets the mood.