A Month Of... Famous People...

Mr Don McLean again, this time with his classic "American Pie", about the late Buddy Holly...

Wikipedia Links:

Don McLean
Buddy Holly

A Month Of... Famous People...

The start of a new month, and the start of a new "Month Of..."

February will be featuring songs written about famous people (although I might have to stretch to fictional characters, depending how I get on), starting with "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)" by Don McLean... which was, of course, about Vincent Van Gogh...

Wikipedia Links:

Don McLean
Vincent Van Gogh

Born To Rock...

I had a few artists to choose from today, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous (and funnily enough, chronologically they were roughly in the right order!).

For we had (starting with the second oldest, because the oldest one is the one I've decided to feature):

1950: Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike & The Mechanics)
1951: Sting (Police... note, I'm not bothering with this lots' real names)
1955: Phil Oakey (The Human League)
1960: Robbie Nevil
1969: Damon Gough (Badly Drawn Boy)

and here we get to the "Ridiculous" element:

1971: Tiffany
1973: Lene (Aqua)
1973: Verka Serduchka (remember the Ukrainian drag act that was in The Eurovision Song Contest, was it last year?)

But for "Sublime", I give you (maybe not the "coolest" of the artists, but for sheer songwriting ability, hard to beat... and another one I was introduced to by my sister (not physically introduced to, you understand))...

Oct. 2nd, 1945 - Don McLean... here with "Castles In The Air"...

And I'm giving you a link to another of his songs, which I've featured before (and, no, it's neither of the two you're thinking of):

"The Grave"

Like A Fine Wine...

Another one that was killed by cover version... Don McLean and "American Pie"...

The Musical Interlude...

Don McLean - "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)"...

Lyrics Here: Leo's Lyrics: Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)

The Musical Interlude

Subtitled: War (huh), What Is It Good For?

Two songs I've been waiting an age for someone to put on YouTube (or, at least, if they were there, I've never been able to find them so far) - both absolutely heart-breaking songs about war and its effects...

First, "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by The Pogues... it's a long 'un, but just makes me cry every time...

I really have a thing for male vocalists with a "raw" quality to their voices... Nick Cave has it, as do Rufus Wainwright, Ryan Adams, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello and Bono... and Shane McGowan certainly has it. They may not have the smoothest, most polished voices, but they sure as hell can grab your emotions and squeeze them.

And now another anti-war song that gets me every time... Don McLean and "The Grave"...