222. Living On The Ceiling – Blancmange (1982)

I remember seeing Blancmange play this on ‘Top Of The Pops’ and rushing out to buy a 12’ single of this fine song!

As with some of the other songs in my collection ‘Living On The Ceiling’ was a record that I played numerous times and nearly wore it out however I remember swapping my copy as well as another record that I had for a copy of Marc Almond’s ‘Untitled’ album with a friend who lived next door. Looking back I can’t remember why other than that I wanted Marc’s album and it had been deleted and I suppose the 12’’ of ‘Living On The Ceiling’ was probably deleted too.

As soon as I got my ipod however and discovered that it was possible to download pretty much anything I found this and made it one of the first few songs I added to my playlist.

It’s hard to quantify what it is about this song and why I like it but I suspect it is the fusion of the Indian influence along with what was (at the time) the latest synthesiser and drum sounds which all come together to make a great song.

Enjoy some Blancmange….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L03PJeB38dI

221. Big Big World – Emilia (1998)

I was recently reminded of this song when I was having dinner in The King Neptune Restaurant in Newcastle. Among the other piped music that was playing in the background, which included some real drivel, this wonderful song captured my attention and I was reminded of how much I loved it. Needless to say I downloaded it to my ipod and played in on the train back to London.

In the course of my work I am often sent to Edinburgh, Newcastle, Glasgow and so on as the company I am working with at the moment has over 40 different locations. Over the last five years I have visited most of them from as far afield as Inverness to Lymington and I have been away from home for a good deal of time.

When I used to read stories about rock stars on tour getting bored with hotels and eating out daily I used to feel shocked and say ‘I would never tire of such a thing’ but the reality is (having done it for long) that I miss my family very much each time I go away and now every city centre and every hotel pretty much looks like each other! I will often turn a corner looking for a shop or a restaurant only to realise it’s in a completely different town.

It is, however, comforting to sometime hear a song being played that reminds me of home or some fun time in that past that only music can remind you of. This is one such song. I hope you enjoy it…..

Now listen to the song…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUKq7DLo6Ko

220. Bring Him Home – Les Miserables – Alfie Boe (1985)

I remember when ‘Les Miserables’ was born and the chronic reviews it suffered. Friends in the business called it ‘The Glums’ and there was a general belief that it was a flawed and depressing piece of no real value, but with many things the public loved it and it is still playing to full house some twenty five years later!

When I was at east 15 acting school and ‘Les Miserables’ was relatively new we used to sing some of the songs and I remember this one and ‘Stars’ being performed in the Foyer. East 15 had this practice of asking every student to sing a song (these were to be challenging and designed to test the singer’s range) in the Foyer in front of the whole school at regular intervals. As with most things those who found singing difficult were nervous and apprehensive as were those who were good at singing who were often given songs outside of their range which they acquitted with various degrees of success.

Some years later before we had children of our own we were looking after the children of Kerry’s brother’s then partner and took the kids to see ‘Les Miserables’ when it was on at the Shaftesbury Theatre. We had good seats in the balcony and it was wonderful to see the whole show and hear the songs performed live by the actors in their full context. This song is my favourite one from the show and each time I hear it I am reminded of east 15, the foyer songs and that weekend when we entertained Christopher and Kelsey and gave them their first experience of the West End Theatre.

Now enjoy the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt5YRexag1o

219. You Only Live Twice – Nancy Sinatra (1967)

I have always enjoyed John Barry’s music and the wonderful way in which he collaborated with artists as diverse as A-Ha, Duran Duran, Shirley Bassey, Lulu, Louis Armstrong and many others when providing music for various James Bond films. His wonderful music can also be heard in other films most notably ‘Out Of Africa’ where ‘You are Karen’ is one of my all time favourite pieces of cinematic music.

As with a number of songs in my collection of my favourite 500 songs this one was also in my Auntie Sheila’s record collection and she had it as a single. The single version by Nancy Sinatra was a good deal more dramatic than the actual version used in the opening of the film and it is this version that Sheila had and this version that I remember on ‘Reprise’ records with its pink label and sleeve.

‘You Only Live Twice’ is a great song with great music and great lyrics and a great vocal by the daughter of a living legend.

Now enjoy the song…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDitUVMMzE0

218. All That You Have Is Your Soul – Tracey Chapman (1989)

Tracy Chapman’s first album was a masterpiece and I loved it whole-heartedly but her second album ‘Crossroads’ while being less commercially successful is still a very fine album indeed. This is my favourite song from that album.

For some reason this song reminds me of another student at my drama school. His name was Andy (and sometimes Drew) and like me he came from Leicester and started east 15 in 1989. I had seen him around Leicester before we went and we had some mutual friends in common but it was not until we were living in the school’s Jacobean Mansion in York that we got to know each other a little better.

Andy was a very talented actor but unfortunately he had a tendency to be unreliable in so far as he would turn up late for rehearsals or not at all and was sometimes ill prepared but when he was there and applied himself he gave tremendous performances.

One Sunday he cooked us a roast dinner in the basement kitchen. He had somehow managed to get hold of a Joint of Lamb and slow cooked it in the oven whilst the residents of the house sat in the old Jacobean kitchen in front of the real fire drinking wine and discussing changing the world. Andy played the guitar and he was playing the opening bars of this song and because I knew it I recognised it instantly.

The words of the song are very powerful. It is true that in the end all that we have is our soul….

Now listen to this song. Dedicated to Andy R wherever he may be…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4hbQj8NK1g

217. Hey Jude – The Beatles (1967)

I remember reading somewhere the Paul McCartney used John’s son Julian as the inspiration for this song and that it was originally called ‘Hey Jules’ changing it to ‘Hey Jude’ later as the song developed.

It is one of my favourite Beatles songs and I can never play it or listen to it without being reminded of my mother who died from a very aggressive cancer some twelve years ago now. I still think about her and wish she were still here so that she might have seen my four children and gotten to know them as she loved babies and was constantly on at me and Kerry to get started with the family but they only started to come along some two years after her death. Sometimes in life however we can’t get what we want and perhaps in this case we can’t get what we need either.

This is a great song and no list of 500 great songs would be complete without something by the fab four and so I give you ‘Hey Jude’

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEKgYKpEJ3o

216. The Legend of Xanadu – Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich (1968)

This is another record that my Auntie Shelia had in her collection and that we used to play on her Fidelity Record player round at her maisonette on the

St. Matthew’s estate in Leicester back in the early seventies.

It’s odd to look back on this song which is now over 43 years old but when I was five (having been born in 1968 too) it was a fairly recent hit having only been in the charts some five years earlier.

As a child I could appreciate the drama of this song and loved the ‘whipping’ sound as well as the Spanish influence and the spoken section which all add up to a pretty great single! I remember Sheila’s record was on Fontana Records and had a dark blue sleeve and label with silver writing on it and as well as the music when remembering her records I can quite clearly visualise them.

This is a great clip (introduced by Jimmy Savillle) which just has to be enjoyed…

Now listen to this song…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuJ4GIXB5Uc