Shownotes Transcript
The song I’ve sent you this week was from my more “commercial” era (lol)…..it’s sung by a friend of mine called Sue Young who had a great voice … she did the clubs as well but had a superb session voice…I used to call her “One Take” Sue…..I used to have a demo service where people would send me their songs in rough form (sometimes just a voice) and I would knock them into shape for them to send to publishers…and Sue would sing the female parts…she would have a couple of listens then hit it in one go…she was wonderful to work with.This was a song I wrote for her….we got radio play which gave her some publicity and some extra gigs.
I used to use a few session girls singers…one being Pauline Daniels and another Julie Bright…these were the days before the modern trend of females shouting and yelling out songs and destroying them.
I watched a programme called “Brucie’s Hall of Fame”….which was supposed to be presented by Bruce Forsyth…but as he’s not well his place was taken by Alexander Armstrong (who we talked about the other week)….he had artists on who were paying tribute to the stars they were inspired by….a good idea but sadly it didn’t come off at all…..Beverly Knight paid tribute to Sam Cooke with a yelling session…I like her very much but I think she is a bit misguided vocal wise…and other acts which were pretty bad…then I had to endure Alexander (who now fancies himself as a singer…which he aint) launching into some swing song slipping out of pitch on occasions…awful…BUT finished with a bigshouty note and got a standing ovation…so what do I know?
.At the other end of the spectrum I finally finished watching “The Tudors” which I have on a box set….there are four series covering the reign of Henry V111 and was the best thing I have ever seen.
It was brilliant and wonderfully acted and produced….I am now an authority on Henry….up until then I always thought that Henry the eighth was the bloke who invented fractions (gerrit?) What makes this series so good is it is TRUE….you couldn’t make it up…what a bloke he was….not one to upset.
… on the history front this will interest you if you didn’t know….I was taking a stroll around Woodside in Birkenhead (which is where I took the photograph I sent you of the newly painted ferry boat)…the area has been totally renovated over the last few years and gives a wonderful different angle on The Mersey….I came across a plaque concerning the HMS Birkenhead which was built locally and was the first ship to come to a disastrous end….it hit rocks and the hull was split open…as there weren’t enough lifeboats the women and children were taken off first…this became known as “The Birkenhead Drill” and was used on the Titanic disaster years later…”women and children first”.
I watched a programme about The Prince’s Trust where Ant and Dec interviewed Prince Charles and accompanied him on some of his charity missions.I thought The Prince came over very well and his organisation certainly does a lot of good.
I must say I smiled at his visit to a prison where he spoke to three inmates….handpicked or what? No matter what you think of Chaz and his “privileged” life I must say I couldn’t think of anything worse….to be constantly hounded by people who either grovel or despise you must be awful…and there is no escape…fame always comes with a price…had John Lennon not been a Beatle he would have lived twice as long….fame – no thanks.