I’ve got to write an essay about the blues
I’m was wondering whether it was the right option to choose
It definitely is as I’m learning so much
about a music genre I didn’t care for as such

When you think about it though it’s the foundation of many a good song
you wouldn’t realise it but I bet you sing along
Some of the blues can be raw and very melancholy 
but some of it can make you feel really jolly

I’m studying with the Open University you see
Arts and Humanities which includes music and that’s for me
I have loved music for all of my days
and to include it in my degree makes me happy in so many ways

So I’ve become familiar with the twelve bar sound
and the love for reading music I have again found
Hopefully I’ll get this essay written
and a good mark will make me feel totally smitten

​

Are you still at Rock Choir I hear you say?
Yes, like everything else we are doing it a different way
Zoom has become the popular thing
and that's great as it allows us to sing

It was a bit funny at first
I think some of us feared the worst
It's good to be able to see everyone on screen
Happy, smiley and looking so keen

I can sing like a diva and really out loud
because singing alone is different to singing in a crowd
We sometimes dress up to add to the fun
and Zoom can make us look like we are holidaying in the sun

We'll all be together again soon one day
and with all this practice we'll sound fabulous I say
Corona you can't make this thing go sour
because we are mighty and called
​ROCK CHOIR!!

I heard Chris Rea on my radio singing a lovely song
he made it home for Christmas I knew it wouldn't be long
Long I hear you say? We've been singing it for years
that M25, it just adds to all my fears

Countless Christmas's and numerous pints of beer have passed
he really can't have been driving all that fast
Do you think it was just one very long trip?
or did he have somewhere quick he had to nip?

He could have been driving home from Tesco's after getting all his grub
or he could be a long distance lorry driver ready for the tub
We really think he's still lost driving round and around
forever on that motorway, his life is now bound

I'm just not gonna worry it's a classy kinda song
when we get to mid September you'll be whistling along
You'll get all excited hearing his deep and hopeful tone
but I have just one wish this year Chris, just make it bloody home.




 

Someone asked me a question about a piece of music the other day and I didn't know the answer so I thought, right I'm going to have to find the answer on the inter web other wise it's going to just bug me.

I didn't know where to start because I needed to find the name to a piece of music but all I had really was the tune in my head and how do you put 'do do do do do do' in Google? I knew it was classical, it was a dramatic piece and maybe in a horror movie. Someone suggested it was in The Shining, I thought no. I was sure it was in The Omen so I searched the soundtrack.

I found it, not sure in the end how I did because it was never in the movies that you would have thought and definitely not in The Omen. It is however featured in Only Fools and Horses when Rodney sees his nephew Damian and there is the link to The Omen. This is a common misconception that the music actually featured in the movie.

This music has been played no end of times this week as they use it on a fairground ride on Markeaton Park in Derby, nice touch to get you even more scared than you need to be before being swung upside down and round and round. What happened to 'scream if you wanna go faster'?

The music is O Fortuna - Carmina Burana by German composer Carl Orff and you will know it straight away when you here it. It is the music used when the judges make an entrance on X factor so that is, I think how I found it in the end. 

Here it is on You Tube........
youtu.be/GXFSK0ogeg4

Phew, thank goodness I worked than one out, made my brain ache that one but it is a great piece of music. I will be back tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now, enjoy this lovely sunny weather and take care.

I bet you're thinking what has happened to Rock Choir, well we are resting for the Easter break. Yes only two more weeks and we will be back for a new term and to start some new songs.

We start back with one I have personally been waiting for. It was bound to come around sooner or later, well we are a choir so surely we must be singing something from The Greatest Showman. I loved this film and all of the music too, how can you not? Let's face it you would have to have been on a different planet not to know anything about this movie.

'This Is Me' will be our first song to learn and I think most of us won't need our lyrics as I am sure all of us Rockies have had a diva moment at one point, can't be just me. It is a very emotional, empowering song which says I don't care what you think of me, suck it up buttercup as this is who I am .......this is me!!!

I can't wait, so excited, to get back singing again and to sing this song. I wasn't too sure about our other offerings though. Oh I've said that a million times before haven't I? I can think that I don't like a song and then when we learn the Rock Choir arrangement I end up liking it better than the original so I am not making any judgement at all.

The other two songs are 'Mandy' by Barry Manilow and Stevie Wonder's 'Don't You Worry Bout a Thing'. Out of all the Stevie Wonder songs this was the one I least expected to do really but we'll see, I won't worry, bout a thing. I do love the song Mandy but another one I wasn't expecting and another I'm not sure of again but I know Rock Choir are gonna prove me wrong and I'll be saying that I love em'.

We also have to bear in mind too that some of the Rock Choir members request these songs and we must respect that, they probably have a deep meaning for others and we all have different tastes. I suppose it is hard to please everyone with every song. I often wonder what I would do if my wedding song popped up? I'm no longer married but I like my song, would I bunk off for a couple of weeks or would I hold it together and sing it? I'll let you know it it ever appears. 

Ha got you thinking now haven't I? Some will know it, those that attended the wedding. Oh ya can't beat a bit of Bazza, no I didn't have one of his songs but he is great though. I'm going to just shut up and get on with it after all I could sing the alphabet and be happy and actually we do sometimes in warm up. 

Thank you for being here my lovelies and reading my posts. I will return tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now......you all take care.

One of the greatest songs ever created I have no doubt and I do love this song but is it a love song? I got into a bit of a debate yesterday as this classic from 1975 was played on Steve Wright's Radio 2 programme 'Sunday Love Songs'. Well I've never spent a lot of time thinking about what the song really meant, until now.

You see I thought it was just some bitter dumping song. A bloke a bit  fed up about being chucked by his woman and just hating love and everything that went with it. When I looked into it further though it is in fact the opposite. This is a explanation which I've taken from Wikipedia but I have read other sources and the explanation is the same and it goes like this......

Eric Stewart came up with the idea for the song after his wife, to whom he had been married for eight years at that point, asked him why he didn't say "I love you" more often to her. Stewart said, "I had this crazy idea in my mind that repeating those words would somehow degrade the meaning, so I told her, 'Well, if I say every day "I love you, darling, I love you, blah, blah, blah", it's not gonna mean anything eventually'. That statement led me to try to figure out another way of saying it, and the result was that I chose to say 'I'm not in love with you', while subtly giving all the reasons throughout the song why I could never let go of this relationship."

​When I read other comments from people and their interpretations they seemed to think is was a man in denial, that he was really in love but didn't want to admit to it or know really how to express it properly. 

So you see which ever way you look at it and when you delve deeper and look for the real meaning it is actually a love song and I hold my hands up. I was wrong to think it didn't deserve a place on Sunday Love Songs because it is in fact one of the biggest love songs of all time.

It was nearly binned and never to be heard but with a bit of re editing it  was released as a single topping the charts and also winning three Ivor Novello awards in 1976. There was also some controversy over the timing as the original single was over six minutes long, too long for air play on the BBC (that would become a regular thing eh?) but after public pressure it was played and has been played in it's entirety ever since.

A great song and I'm glad I have now taken the time to understand it more. I do love the way we all see something different in a song. That happens a lot in other arts such as poetry and paintings, we can interpret it in a different way and not always how the artist intended it to be in the beginning.

The moral of this post? I guess as well as never judge a book by it's cover, never a judge a song by it's lyric. 

Thank you for reading today, I will be back tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now.....

Take care.

Oh another ear worm alert!!! I cannot get this song out of my head. I mean I'm not complaining, it's a lovely song by the very handsome Jack Savoretti called What More Can I Do? But it's the sample track behind the song that's been bugging me.

Where have I heard it from? It is quite a well known piece of music and I kept thinking it was a bit Robert Palmer but then I realised it was Barry White......that then got me thinking about lurrrrrv and then I remembered, ping! It came to me in a flash, no not the cleaning fluid or Gordon but actually Steve Wright. That was it, Steve Wright uses 'Loves Theme' on his Radio 2 Show 'Sunday Love Songs'.

Phew that was giving a bit of brain ache let alone having the ear worm as well. I'm glad I have it sorted and I know now. This is such a gorgeous song though and Jack's warm tones in his voice just make it so relaxing to listen to. He has such a distinctive voice and those strings added to the track, well as you know I'm a sucker for a few strings. 

So go and get a bit of Jack Savoretti on your play list this week and enjoy! If you would like to check out the video of 'What More Can I Do' you can here: youtu.be/vA9CZA2aWOk

...and if you want to check out the Barry White track just to settle your mind too, that's here: youtu.be/8YS7sWCG_ZE

It is a very subtle sample which is disguised a little by the strings and that's probably why it puzzled me a bit. It's not overpowering that it takes over from his song which is great because at the end of the day it's all about Jack. 

What a great match eh? Loving it Jack....beautiful song and I really don't care that it's in my head.....it cancels out all the rubbish stuff in there. Hope you all like it too.

Thank you for reading again this week, I will be back tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now.......

Take care.

There is always that song that you hear on the radio, you start tapping your feet and singing along and then at the end of the track they announce who it is....and that it's Bananarama. Well I was not expecting to hear that and not expecting to like the new single as much as I did. 

'Stuff Like That' is the new offering from the girls and is taken from the forthcoming album 'In Stereo' to be released next month. It's alright, a nice pop tune, very catchy and totally Bananarama. They also have a tour coming up this year plus they have always been on the bill of many an 80's festival and there are a few of those this year too. Yes, although they have gone through a few changes regarding the band members Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward have always been the original two banana gals and celebrate 36 years of success.

Dad from the Brew will be chuffed, in fact that new album will be whisking its way on to his Amazon wish list as soon as he reads this. He is 88 years young and loves Bananarama, he listens to all the oldies and I'm thinking these girls are keeping him very young. We just have to watch him when he's disco dancing but hey just goes to show there is no age limit to the fans of Bananarama. 

I'm having a bit of a deja vu moment which isn't strange at the moment my lovely brewsters, There are a few to be honest, purely down to hormones and my age but I'm sure I have mentioned the return of Bananarama before. I do apologise, I have written so many posts now but could I find anything looking back? No, so I figured if I have written about them before it wouldn't do any harm to mention them again.

If you would like to catch up on news about Bananarama then you can go to their website here at www.bananarama.co.uk

There is everything on there, the tour dates, the video for the new single and a biography to catch up on their history, in case you need to brush up your memories of the 80's. They've become the old days now eh? I remember thinking the 60's were the old days but now kids are thinking it's the 80's which now makes me feel old. 

I'll go and put some Bananarama on the music box and shake some moves, I'll be back to my teens in no time.....ahhh the memories.

Thanks for reading today, I will be back tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now.......

Take care.

It's been a busy old week in Country Music land with the annual C2C (Country to Country) festival in the UK taking place where lots of big names in the country music world were perform. This was obviously why Keith Urban seemed to be taking over my tv and radio for the past few days. Not complaining at all, what a nice bloke he is!

I caught Keith on The One Show last week performing his new single 'Never Comin Down' taken from the album Graffiti U and really liked that a lot. Then I listened to him on Radio 2 with Zoe Ball and he was so funny, what a laugh that show was, if you didn't catch it go and catch up on the radio iplayer. Not only is that guy just one heck of a laugh, he sounds good, has a very talented Mrs (Nicole Kidman) and he is quite easy on the eye. Not bad at all.

The other bit of country music news is that we now have a music channel dedicated to country music again. How long have we been waiting for this?Well I have been waiting since March 1998 when CMT Europe was taken away from us. Nothing really came along that matched that until now. 

Yes Total Country is now available on Sky channel 373. and Virgin 348 with back to back country music for all you fans. It first went to Sky and I felt a bit like the lost person who would never experience it, envying the Sky people who were enjoying their country music. It was like looking through a window and wishing, just wishing it could happen to us virgins. 

That sounds so wrong, for one I don't go around peering through people's windows to watch tv and as for virgins I mean Virgin Media customers. Patience is a virtue and after a short wait it finally arrived to Virgin customers. So all happy now.

Some say country music had it's day with the line dancing craze that went on in the 90's but no I think it's always been there. Of course a bit of line dancing raised the profile of a lot of popular country tunes but it's still as popular today. Not everyones cup of tea (ha ha see what I did there) but if you are a fan it is around for you to enjoy. 

So give it a go and let me know what you think. Thank you for reading today. I will be back tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now you all take care. 

We are back at Rock Choir again and what a song to start our new term off with. It's only 'Dreams' by The Cranberries. Just such a fabulous song and when listening to the original you cannot help but fall in love with the pure vocal tones from lead singer Dolores O' Riordan.

It is so sad that Dolores died just over a year ago now but it is nice that we can all keep her memory very much alive by playing her music and singing her songs. I hope we are doing Dreams justice and that people will enjoy our Rock Choir version when we get to perform it.

Even on the first week of learning it is sounding really good and it isn't so tricky to learn so a nice easy time we are having this term. The songs this year so far have been featuring less moves with them so I think someone, or quite a few people may have sent feedback to the old Rock Choir HQ asking to tone the dance moves down slightly. 

It is a bit tricky when you have to think about lyrics, harmony parts and then which way you're going to sway or when to clap in the right places. Oh my head can get a bit muddled. It's a bit like trying to rub you're stomach and pat your head at the same time, remember doing that as kids? I had trouble with that so imagine which way I am swaying in the middle of a Rock Choir performance. 

It does all come together eventually even with the more complex songs, we all end up thinking that it is never going to work out and then 'ping', yes just like the sound of a Disney magic wand 'ping' ( I'll do it again because I like that) it all works out and we end up loving it, even the moves. Rockies never admit to it but they love it really. I feel a pantomime moment coming on there - 'oh no we don't'.

So we will be carrying on with our new song and recapping the other new ones because I suppose some of them may feature at our performance at the Edinburgh Fringe later this year. Woo get us!! Yes in August we will be performing in the beautiful city of Edinburgh at The Fringe Festival, keep having to pinch myself to see if it's real. We are not sure of the songs which we are to perform yet but I'm sure they will be great, so exciting!!!

See, it's a great experience this Rock Choir lark isn't it? Recording at Abbey Road Studios, performing at big mega festivals.....fancy it? If you do, just pop over to www.rockchoir.com and find your local session where you can also get a free taster session. Come and join us, you know you want to, there's no audition, it's very relaxed and most of all it's FUN!! So what are you waiting for? 

Thank you for reading today. I will return tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now you take care.