271. Evacuee – Enya (1991)

In the opening of this song we hear a few bars of  ‘Marble Halls’ (song 270) which is considered to be ‘bad luck’ when the melody is whistled by actors in the theatre, followed by the sound of a rain storm and then the beautiful sound of a brass band.

There is something about the sound of a brass band playing (it always reminds me of The Salvation Army playing and at the same time – The Salvation Army Brass band playing at Christmas) which is intrinsically warming and comforting.

Of all the songs on Enya’s ‘Shepherd Moons’ album this is the one I always come back to and listen to again and again. Dangerously sentimental and dramatic, it is typical Enya and yet at the same time an uplifting song of separation, longing and eventual reunion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWBZ0rf4f7w

270. I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls – Elina Garanca (1843 composed – recording 2010)

‘I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls’ is an aria from the 1843 Opera ‘The Bohemian Girl’ by Michael William Balfe and Alfred Bunn and was very popular in Victorian times when it was sung (around the piano) in the parlour.

I first came across it when I was a East 15 in the late eighties, when one of the students sang it as a ‘Foyer Song’. East 15 had a ‘Foyer Songs’ session every term where everyone was required to sing a solo (or sometimes a ‘duet’) in the Foyer in front of all of the other students regardless of one’s singing ability. A further twist was that you had to sing a song you found difficult (maybe the notes were a trifle too high or the breathing required a little tricky) so that it would not be an ‘easy ride’ for those who were good at singing and just breezed in, did a song they could do well and then breezed out again following rapturous applause.

Having heard this song it quickly became one of my favourites and I was thrilled to discover a version by Enya on her ‘Shepherd Moon’s’ album.

This version is a modern recording but true to the original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMaLhIbYJoM

269. Spirits (Having Flown) – The BeeGees (1979)

I remember buying the ‘Spirits (Having Flown) album by the BeeGees in 1979 and loving the picture on the cover and the glorious red colour of the sleeve. In this day and age it is such a shame that we no longer have records as there is something about pulling a record out of the inner sleeve, putting it on the turntable, listening to the sound of the needle touch the record and then the wonderful music that comes out the speakers. It is such a shame that my children will not know this pleasure and hear music in this way.

I loved this song at the time and played it endlessly and in a moment of nostalgia I downloaded it to my ipod and then added it to a playlist that we listened to in the car on our family days out. After I played it for the first time, my two year old son, Rupert, said ‘Again!’ and we had to play it again and again and again. Every time we got in the car he insisted we had ‘The BeeGees’ and so this song has become one which I will now never disassociate from my lovely baby, driving to and from the beach on sunny summer days as well as with my own youth and early love of music and the harmonies of the Gibb brothers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CkjIHLp8E0

268. Miss You Nights – Cliff Richard (1976)

This song by Cliff Richard reminds me of my late mother who was one of Cliff’s biggest fans. Back in the 1970s Cliff toured the country annually and would play the De Montfort Hall in Leicester every year where my mother would go and see him.

As we got older she got into the habit of taking my brother and I along and I spent a number of years watching Cliff perform. On the basis that Cliff had been performing for donkeys’ years, by the time we went to see him, he had a set of tried and tested numbers, which he nearly always performed. I distinctly recall him saying ‘Every now and again a truly great song comes along, but until it does I’ll do one of Hank Marvin’s!’ as an introduction to ‘The Day I Met Marie’ and I have heard him use this introduction many times lives as well as on tv and various other live recordings!

This song however is a truly great song and with my mother and brother I have heard Cliff sing it many times. It was my mother’s favourite and she had it on a album and we listened to it regularly.

Every time I hear this song it reminds me of those concerts and my mother who I still miss very much. I know she would have loved to have seen my children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8jUuZ3MldY

267. Farmer In The City – Scott Walker (1995)

I have always loved Scott Walker ever since Marc Almond covered a couple of his songs on his ‘Untitled’ album and I went out to seek the originals. This song is my personal favourite. So much of Scott Walker’s work is dark and makes you feel uncomfortable or unnerved but this song had all of those qualities and a such a sense of oppression and desperation that I find it truly moving. You really need to listen to this is a darkened room…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJzTWk6bSw&feature=kp

266. Long Haired Lover from Liverpool – Jimmy Osmond (1972)

I remember loving this when I was a four year old and Santa Claus buying me a copy of this single as a Christmas Present!

As a five year old I was impressed by the fact that Santa had managed to get this for me and over the years I played this record so much that I wore it out. Oddly enough I had forgotten about it and it had slipped back into my nostalgic memories of childhood until a DJ played it at the end of the night at a disco I attended a few years ago. That night I was immediately reminded of this song and I rediscovered it, have it on my ipod and have only just stopped playing it to write this note!

I love the happy nature of this song, the contrast between the ‘long haired hippies’ of Liverpool in the 1970s (which probably looked a lot like George Harrison!) and the ‘Sunshine Daisies of L.A’ a city that has a very special place in my heart. 

Love it or loathe it – this was a massive hit in 1972 and deserves to be included in my list of 500 songs!

Enjoy….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YriPIujLtsA