198. I Just Called To Say I Love You – Stevie Wonder (1984)

This song reminds me of being in the Christmas Pantomime ‘Mother Goose’ back in 1985 at the town hall in Loughborough.

At the time I was still doing amateur productions in Leicester but was invited to play a part in the show for which I would be paid! The show was put on Leicester Dancing Teacher Janet DuPont (a.k.a Janet Wilson) and I had a good comedy role and a few songs to sing!

The girl playing the princess – Rita Proctor (who went on to become a choreographer in later life) and the principal boy had a duet in the show but the actual song chosen wasn’t quite right so Mick Lowe suggested we use this one. Mick was the Musical Director on the show as well as the man that ran the Western Park Youth Theatre, where I was a member, and there wasn’t anything he couldn’t play on the piano. He just sat down and played it straight off! The girls sang it and it fitted into the show brilliantly!

I had a wonderful time doing that show every night for six weeks and matinees on Saturdays. Some of my friends like Cathy Bell and Louise were in the show and I made lots of new friends among the dancers and singers. The sets were marvellous and the costumes supplied by Bermans and Nathans. Whenever I hear this song it reminds me of the show and the happy times I spent on it…

Now listen to the song…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwOU3bnuU0k

197. Messages – OMD (1980)

I remember the first time I heard this song, which was on the school bus home back in 1980. Sat on the back seat on the last stretch going to the last stop on Letchworth Road where I lived, I heard this on Radio One and I knew I had to find out what it was and get my copy.

Back in 1980 ‘Messages’ was unlike anything I had ever heard before. I loved Gary Numan and Tubeway Army and had some of their records but this was something new. The same synthesiser sounds but warm and rich and altogether less clinical. Some time later my friend Melanie acquired the 10inch version of the song, which was marginally longer and I also remember the lyrics of the song being published in ‘Smash Hits’ magazine (to which I subscribed back in the early eighties) accompanied by a picture of the band and their tape recorder ‘Winston’.

I still love this song today and play it regularly.

I recently went to see OMD at the Lyric Hammersmith when they revived ‘Architecture and Morality’ and they still sound as wonderful today as they did over thirty years ago….

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXvlzUCB74o

196. Pop Musik – M (Robin Scott) – 1979

I remember hearing this in 1979 and loving it. The bizarre ‘Pop Music’ chorus coupled with the extremely distinctive rhythm and Robin Scott’s dynamic vocal made this deservedly a massive hit back in 1979 when I bought my copy.

I also particularly loved the video that accompanied the song, which can be seen here, and the concept of boogieing with a suitcase, which is simply absurd.

Although M managed to scrape another hit (which was called something like ‘Moonlight and Music’ I think) they always seemed to be a one hit wonder to me but what a hit! If you’ve never heard it before prepare for a winner and if you have remember it and enjoy again….

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HaAOCGb3bw

195. The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel (1968)

This song reminds me of two periods in my life. Firstly when Kerry and I were students and living in Loughton and also when I was working in Leeds a few years later in 1993.

Sony Records released a ‘definitive’ collection of Simon and Garfunkel hits in the latter part of the 1980s and I had a copy which Kerry and I played regularly in our little flat in Loughton. Kerry’s friend Liz (who lived next door) was also a massive fan and between us we had this disk on the CD player pretty much all of the time. The flat where we lived was mind numbingly cold and during the winter we lived in one room, sleeping on a futon in the lounge and keeping warm using only the duvet and a portable gas fire. This song reminds me of those times when we played this almost daily.

It also reminds me of living in Leeds in 1993 when I was working at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. I remember I was singing this song one day and one of the fellow actors in the company telling me that the chorus of the song was ‘lie, lie, lie’ and that Paul Simon had written it about Bob Dylan. He alleged that Paul Simon (who had had a poor and impoverished background) had written this song which tells a ‘made up’ story of living a hard life where ‘a man hears what he wants to hear’ and the whole thing is a ‘lie’ which he believed Bob Dylan had exploited in his work. I don’t know if this is true but the words of the chorus are certainly ‘lie, lie, lie!’

Listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky57Jo3-BaU&feature=related

194. Denis – Blondie (1978)

I remember seeing ‘Blondie’ on ‘Top Of The Pops’ where they played this video and I remember my mother and my auntie Anne commenting that the reason they believed they were so popular was down to Debbie Harry wearing her swimwear in this video!

Personally I disagree and think that their success in the 1970s was down to some truly great pop songs but then I am a man. It is true that Blondie had struggled before ‘Denis’ came along and considering that it is a cover of a pop standard originally called ‘Denise’ and sung by ‘Randy and the Rainbows’ it is an odd choice when compared to other Blondie classics like ‘Hanging On The Telephone’ and ‘Heart Of Glass’ but it did the job and brought them to the public’s attention when the song reached number two in 1978.

This is a great fun pop song and reminds me of being ten, buying my copy , which was on Chrysalis records and came in a blue sleeve from Lewis’ department store and playing it loudly on my record player as well as watching Debbie in her swimwear on tv….

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahGxiSV_LH0

193. Enjoy The Silence – Depeche Mode (1990)

This song reminds me of my friend Sara and the ballroom of Sheriff Hutton Hall in York back in 1990. At the time I was a student at east 15 acting school and during final term of that year was living in a house in a village called Thornton Le Clay rather than in the Hall itself.

As I may have mentioned I hated dancing but I did very much enjoy spending time in the Victorian Ballroom, which was added as an extension to the already large house (originally a Jacobean Hunting Lodge) in the Victorian era. The Ballroom was enormous, had wonderful and massive sash windows and an elegant wooden floor. We had all of our dancing lessons in there, rehearsals and at Christmas we built a set and used it as an auditorium! There was always a tape deck and amplifier in the room which was used to provide music for the dance classes but when passing time in the evenings or doing our own morning warm ups we brought our own music on cassettes and played them on that stereo.

At the time I had a copy of ‘Violator’, which was Depeche Mode’s latest album at the time. Both Sara and I were Depeche Mode devotees (as were a number of the other students) so I brought my cassette of the album down and we had it on a lot of the time. As a result whenever I hear ‘Halo’, ‘Personal Jesus’ or ‘Enjoy The Silence’ I am transported back to those happy days when I was training to be an actor and reminded of Sara (who like me now) has a big family and lives nearby!

Now listen to the song…

http://www.youtube.com/v/aGSKrC7dGcY

192. The Carnival Is Over – The Seekers (1965)

My mother had an album by ‘The Seekers’. It was called ‘Come The Day’ and was on Columbia records. There were some great songs on that album including a Seeker’s Version of ‘California Dreaming’ and Peter Andre’s favourite ‘Island Of Dreams’. Needless to say this was my first introduction to popular music as a child and I loved it.

Whatever kind of music you like I think it’s virtually impossible not to appreciate the amazing voice of Judith Durham, which is magnificent as well as crystal clear. The simplicity of the guitars, double bass and close harmonies of the group work so well together that I don’t think I know a bad or even mediocre Seekers number.

“The Carnival Is Over’ however is my favourite one. Ironically this song was not on that album but my auntie Sheila did have it on a single. I remember playing it round at her flat on the St. Matthew’s estate and having played it putting the black Columbia record back into its red sleeve (I distinctly remember it being red because some of the others were green but this one was definitely red!).

There is a rumour that Tom Springsteen (who wrote it) borrowed the tune from a Russian folk song however it has become one of Australia’s most famous songs and is one that I still love to listen to on the tube in between Lady Ga Ga and New Order.

Now listen to the song….

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3klk6_the-seekers-the-carnival-is-over_music