A very easy choice for the most visually appealing video this week. Love the Dixie chicks video for "Not ready to Make Nice" The black paint is really a visually powerful image. Lots of black in this video to suit the dark emotions of this song.

So today I watched a very interesting video analysis of a song by the Beatles called A Northern Song. Post Covid Island Discs now usually records the death of famous musicians and of course poor old George Harrison passed away many years before the Covid-19 pandemic. So I guess this post is in memorandum to George Harrison even if he did pass away so many years before this website was even born. Yet there appears to be so much more to this song of Harrison's than meets the eye as explained by James Hargreaves in his video which is also included under the Beatles Anthrology recording of Harrison's clever song which I think, as Hargreaves argues, is a passive-aggressive dig at the way McCartney and Lennon treated him as an inferior member of the Beatles.

After watching Hargreaves excellent analysis of the Harrison's song, along with his detailing of the complicated tensions that existed between the Beatles in the late 60s, it became obvious that the band was always in trouble and it was only a matter of time before the fab four would go their separate ways. Hargreaves analysis challenges the commonly held idea that the breakup of the band was solely down to Yoko entering the scene as clearly relational tensions in the Beatles were not just confined to John and Paul.

A less known version but better version (in my opinion) of the song before Lennon and McCartney fell into a possible trap set by Harrison (see Hargreaves analysis below).

Analysis of the song and its meaning by James Hargreaves

The mainstream version of the song as first published on the Yellow Submarine Album

I was a clumsy child. My life nearly ended as a toddler when I fell into a swimming pool and all but drowned to the point of being clinically dead. Then in 1978 I managed to get hit by a car in the UK and ended up in hospital with a broken pelvis for 6 weeks (only a very minor hairline fracture I might add). As a 12 year old just getting my first pulse of teenage hormones, I remember falling in love with all the nurses that cared for me. I still have such a clear image of them making the beds in the morning while the radio blasted out the two big hits at the time. The first was the song Wow by Kate Bush (another entertainer who had lots of teenage male fans not just because she produced amazing music). The second song? You'll find out tomorrow but I guarantee you will never guess it.

Yes we seem to be living in a time when most establishments are having problems. This song kind of captures the feeling of emotional overload one feels when reading a modern newspaper. The temptation is always to take Sixto's advice in the final line of this song: "frankly I couldn't care less".

Time for another Bob Seger song. This song reminds me of the Gambler song by Kenny Rogers. I sometimes like to imagine that the gambler subject of both songs is the same person

What I mean by this is the interesting idea of how in one context a person can appear to be someone who has something valuable to contribute but in other people's eyes they are a scoundrel. Our fictional gambler character on the train to nowhere helped Kenny find an ace that he could keep but as an acquaintance of Bob he is just a guy who never changes his bad gambling habits.

While Fleetwood Mac's most famous album is probably Rumours, their album Tusk also had some gems on it. I have already cited the song Tusk from the album but probably one of the prettiest song on this album was the opening song Over and Over. It is such a melodic and relaxing song. The perfect song to put on after a stressful day at work or if you want to have a romantic evening with a loved one.

December 2022: RIP Christine McVie

Wow we begin week 52 of Covid Island Discs. We have nearly made it through a whole year of UK lockdown which is a sobering thought. In some ways it seems like only yesterday that Johnson announced the first lockdown all the back in March 2020 but in other ways it seems like half a lifetime ago. Certainly it will be great to finally bring Covid Island Discs to an end when life in the UK returns to normal. However, I sometimes wonder whether the disruption this virus has caused, will leave permanent change to our society in a similar way 911 forever changed air travel. I hope not but alas, things often don't work out the way you hope.

To mark the start of week 52, I am citing a first from the female group Wilson Phillips. In many ways this band is quite "sweet" to the ear so not what you would describe as rock. A better description would be soft pop which might not be to your taste. "Eyes like twins" however is probably their most "non-sweet" song and certainly deserves a place in Covid Island Discs. Sadly, I could not find a video to go with the tune so the video below is the next best thing: someone putting together a Powerpoint presentation of images to accompany the tune.

Another classic from Evanescence. This song kind of reminds me of my father because lithium is the main drug they use to treat bipolar disorder. Lithium is a mood stabiliser removing both the highs of hypomania and the lows of depression in bipolar disorder. This song of course piqued my curiosity so I did a search on the meaning behind the song and this is what came up from the website songfacts.com

Amy Lee has been quoted saying the song is about losing the comfort of sorrow. Lithium is a mood stabilizer that would take away the sorrow that the writer holds inside and she is not ready to let go of it. She has lived with sorrow so long that losing it now would be like losing a part of herself. That is what the whole refrain is about: "Lithium, Don't want to lock myself up inside, Lithium, Don't want to forget what it feels without, Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow." Lee's lyrics are often metaphorical and the words consist of double meanings. It's about her inner feelings toward herself.

One thing that fascinates me about very arty and successful people is how much they suffer in terms of their mental health. It appears to be part and parcel often with a strong gift in a particular area.