So this week didn't really contain any arty videos so my vote this week goes to the Beatles Don't let me down video just for the incongruency of seeing probably the greatest rock and roll band of all time having what looks like an impromptu jam on a London office block roof while office workers and police look on. John Lennon's fir coat is also pretty impressive ????.

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

So strictly speaking this band was originally from NZ but they did emigrate to Australia in 1975 so I reckon we can now claim them. If any New Zealanders are upset, take heart, many people in the UK don't differentiate between us but refer to us collectively as antipodeans.

Yes when this song was released I was indeed young. I guess most of us can relate to this pretty song in many ways. This was a hit in Australia but I think the UK hit was another Alphaville song from the same album called Big in Japan. I guess this makes them technically not a one hit wonder band.

So completed my first swim since lockdown without a wetsuit so quite cold. Two people from Platt were also there John Boley (Sarah Boley) and Rachel Watson. Was good to see some church folk in 3D for once although sad social distancing meant could only greet them with a distance wave. We're still in strange times. OK so this song seems very appropriate to celebrate my first swim. A song from the Australian wordsmith himself capturing another very human and sad story that revolves around the Australian beach and surf.

The other cool thing about this video is it brings back pleasant memories for me. Paul Kelly when playing a gig in Australia is so famous that he would only play at a major venue like the Sydney Entertainment Centre. However, in the UK, he is not really known and amazingly he did a gig in the northern quarter of Manchester in a small pub with a concert room that held only about 100 or so people. My daughter Grace and I got tickets to see it. This was my daughter's first experience of a rock gig so what a way to start her concert portfolio. It was a really great to see Paul Kelly up close on stage doing all his amazing hits.

From the funny "Walk like an Egyptian" to a more mature romantic song from the Bangles.

In this song, Alan Parsons adopts Egyptian mythology and imagines a conversation between a man who is at the point of death and the boatman who has been charged with taking his soul across the river of death. I have written below the beginning of verses 1 and 2.

"Well I sympathise completely, but there is nothing I can do, I am just a humble servant with a message here for you. And I know you have good reasons and there's things you have to do but the boatman won't be waiting and he's leaving here with you."

"Well I sympathise completely, but there is nothing I can do, I am just obeying order, I'm a simple soul like you. Well you really are persuasive but I heard it all before.."

That final line of verse 2 I have always found striking as the image is so powerful. Yes imagine the most powerful richest man or woman in the world trying to argue with death that it is not their time. I love the way death (the boatman) is so polite softening the blow with feigned praise; "yes you really are persuasive .... but I heard it all before: wow what an understatement when one thinks of the number of people in the history of the world who have died.

Back in the days when I was a St Paul's fellowship leader, I used this song in an Evangelistic play I put together. A girl who attended our fellowship group at the time, who was a dancer, put together a really cool choreographed dance sequence for me. Once more all distant memories of long lost days.

So one final thing, about this clip. It features the late comedian Robin Williams playing the part of the protesting traveller. Somewhat sad and ironic because, as with so many comedians, in reality William's life was much more towards this melancholic end of the scale rather than the funny man of many of his movies and of course in the end he embraced the boatman through suicide — RIP.

Time for another song from Radiohead. This is the third time I have cited them in Covid Island Discs. This is one of those mellow songs I guess you would listen to over a bottle of red wine after you have just broken up with the love of your life.