We each hear something different in music. Ostensibly 'The Very Thought of You' is a love song of contentment. But isn't there a hint of melancholy in Al's voice, a 1930s Mayfair club at 2am, almost empty, the band striking up a last song while the last guest reflects?
Roobarb is a green dog. Custard is a pink cat. This is Johnny Hawksworth's 21-second theme tune.
This one goes out to everyone who has had their name misspelt by your Bulletin editor in emails over the years; and indeed, to anyone, perpetrator or victim, undone by clumsy fingers or spellcheck.
New York, 25 October 1927. The jazz age and prohibition (banning of alcohol) were in in full 'swing'. Bix, burning briefly, comes in with his cornet at about 35 seconds. About 100 years ago.
While Pink Floyd are best-known for the mega hit (and mega hard work to some) albums such as 'Dark Side of the Moon' and 'The Wall', their earliest incarnation under singer and songwriter Syd Barrett was as a psychedelic and whimsical sixties band.
The 'video' is filmed in Belgium.
In Mental Health Awareness Week, here's a short workshop courtesy of the Drifters and songwriting geniuses Carole King and Gerry Goffin.
The Smiths are the perfect marmite band. Fans adore them. Non-fans really don't.
This is the first track on their first album and perhaps as good as anything they made. Either way, it's not bad, whatever your feelings about marmite.
Franciscan nun Sister Irene O'Connor began singing when a teacher in Singapore in the 1960s. The following decade, together with producer Sister Marimil Lobregat, she recorded the 'Fire of God's Love' album which has become a cult classic for its psychedelic-folky sound. Have a listen. It might not be what you'd expect, but it is perhaps consoling.
Like people, songs have afterlives, often long after being initially ignored.
The Passenger, from the 1977 album 'Lust for Life', was released as the b-side (the flip side of vinyl singles) of the ignored single 'Success'. But gradually it made its way in to the mainstream until it became a relentless favourite of movie directors and advertising agencies. All of which is great for Iggy though these different contexts can maybe detract from simply listening to the song.
David Bowie plays the piano (and sings).
Some people may find classical music inaccessible. But even people who like it sometimes struggle with atonal works.
Yet atonal music, where there are no discernible keys or typical harmonies, is over 100 years old and Arnold Schoenberg was at its forefront. Written in 1926-8, this short piece is from one of his most famous works. One way to listen is to not expect harmony or indeed anything. After all, life itself can feel pretty atonal sometimes.
On 7 May 1964, in the disused Wilbraham Road railway station in Manchester, UK, the Blues and Gospel Tour pulled in to the platform. And the local TV station were there to film it.
The line-up was the stuff of musical legend and included gospel star Sister Rosetta Tharpe whose guitar playing was hugely influential for the British blues youngsters such as Eric Clapton and Keith Richard.
As Sister Rosetta was being escorted to the platform (see the first 45 seconds of the video below) it had begun to rain. She asked to change her first song. This is what she played.
With thanks to Ursula Martin for the suggestion.
Earlier this month, in Lecture Theatre 2 in the Andrew Wiles Building, a collection of talented Oxford Mathematics students, together with colleagues in STEM subjects and beyond, performed Fermat's Last Tango to sell-out crowds over five performances.
Written in 2000 by Joanne Sydney Lessner and Joshua Rosenblum, Fermat's Last Tango tells the story, in words and music, of a 300 hundred-year-old mathematical mystery and the man who spent seven years trying to solve it. Sound familiar?
This is the full performance. Dip in, as it is fun (and turn on the subtitles).
A song to lift the soul. Plus some shots of Piccadilly Circus in the sixties. Happy weekend.
Term is over, so time to relax with a jazz classic. It's 1960, we're in Milan, and the Count is in town with his band.
And just wait for Sonny Cohn to saunter to the front and start to play.
Musicians make most of their money from live performance these days, but recordings of live concerts can just make you long for the original studio versions. However, there are exceptions. Bruce is one of them. Here is a live version of Hungry Heart. If you want the original for comparison, here it is.
Singer and activist (she doesn't like the title) Peggy Seeger was born in America but now resides in downtown Iffley from where, at the age of 87, she still performs songs about a range of issues from women's experiences to ecological matters. An interesting life.
Mozart composed over 600 works in his 35 years. Mind you, he started composing at the age of five.
The pianist here is Mitsuko Uchida.
Burt Bacharach died last week at the age of 94. Together with lyricist Hal David he wrote some of the greatest popular music (incidentally, he was classically trained). Just Google and stand back in awe.
Here's Sandie.
Brian Wilson was responsible for most of the Beach Boys' greatest music including the famous Pet Sounds album. He also suffered from severe mental health issues as well as substance abuse. This home recording is from 1976.
Wilson's health improved subsequently, enabling him to enjoy the acclaim he deserves.
Slade are most associated with the glam rock era (and Christmas) which is not surprising given what they wore, but the music has proved influential in subsequent decades on bands such as the Ramones and Nirvana. They probably had less influence on spelling bees though.
Viktor Ullmann was an Austrian composer, conductor and pianist who died in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1944. He composed this piece the previous year while in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.
There has been a lot of academic research in to sleep recently (notably by Oxford academic Russell Foster), but for those of us who struggle with the old shut-eye (and age doesn't help, we warn you) then how about Max Richter's 2015 Sleep, an eight and a half hour concept album based around the neuroscience of sleep. Its companion album, From Sleep, from which this track is taken, is only one hour long. The quick nap version, if you like.
You have to admire anyone who can stay at the top of their game for over 20 years, especially in the world of popular music (and maths, of course). Beyoncé Knowles-Carter remains as commercially and critically successful as ever with this song high up in 2022 song of the year lists.
If you don't want Beyoncé swearing at you, here's the radio version
Dance away the January heartache with a Dobie.
Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou is a 98-year-old Ethiopian nun whose solo piano music came to prominence in 2006 as part of the Ethiopiques collection. She was trained in the western classical tradition though her music has been described as bluesy, freewheeling waltzes with the influence of the chants of the Orthodox Church. It might all sound a bit obscure, but it is well worth a listen.