OK so this week there are some very evocative videos. My top three would be:

• Tainted Love, Soft Cell
• Sing, Travis
• Lyin' Eyes, The Eagles

This last song I just love because there are a bunch of Eagle band members donning guitars and singing the lyrics of Lyin' Eyes which is one of the Eagles all time classics. Such a lovely guitar arrangement as well. Let's face it, anything with a twelve string acoustic is worth listening to in my opinion.

The soft cell video is truly bizarre in fact you could even say disturbing. Not sure what all the imagery means but it makes for interesting viewing.

However, I think the best video this week must be Sing by Travis. Again some really great imagery in the video including a massive food fight with a giant octopus being flung across the room. The monkey switching back on the TV and turning up the volume is also pretty cool. Overall, just a great video.

So firstly I am late because we are redecorating Grace's room. Took the radiator off and then over the day noticed a slow leak. The washer on the pipe had failed. Long story shot, had to drain the central heating system so no central heating or hot water tonight. Need new washer or compression joint (can you get these during a shutdown)? Guess I will find out tomorrow.

OK so the Beatles is one of those bands where choosing a single hit is just about impossible. I really have come to consider them the greatest rock band of all time. What do I choose: Let it Be, Hey Jude, A Day in the Life, Elanor Rigby, Strawberry Fields, Norwegian Wood, The Long and Winding Road, A Hard Days Night, Penny Lane, Revolution 1, Ticket to Ride, Yesterday, For no One, Tomorrow Never Knows, Nowhere man, Michelle, The Fool on the Hill, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart Club band, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, She's leaving home? Incredible that one band consistently produced so many iconic songs that have stood the test of time.

So why did I choose Twist and Shout? Well it is a song that I think most of us associate with great teenage parties and late nights where this song is played to get everyone on the dance floor. Given our current depressing time, I thought this song might be good to cheer you all up and get you on your living room floor with your families dancing. You know what to do.

One final dilemma do I put the link to the album version or to a live concert version? Given it is Youtube, I decided to choose the latter but sadly that means you got to put up with screaming teenage girls.

I had the privilege of seeing Paul Kelly playing in a small pub in the northern quarter of Manchester. I took my daughter Grace to the concert and when we arrived I sat down in the serving area and got myself and Grace a drink. We started talking to a guy and his girlfriend who were sitting on the other side of the bar and it transpired the guy we were talking to was Robert Vincent. He was the support act for Paul Kelly that night and this was one of the songs he played in his set. It is a fantastic song and I hope one day he gets the recognition he deserves given his immense musical talent.

The other thing I love about this song is it captures something that I think many people go through in life and that is facing the realities of their own brokenness in whatever form that takes. Certainly over the years I have suffered from a chronic stress disorder so this is a personal demon of mine that I continue to battle with day by day.

Oh the pain. Today the UK re-enters lockdown although this was announced last Saturday as obviously the last thing you need to do when a contagion is in exponential growth phase is act quickly. I just hope one day I live to see better government in the UK and the USA. Anyway, in order to escape the spiteful British winter in the middle of a lockdown this great song came to mind. A very happy tune indeed.

Following on from yesterday's song from U2 for New year's day this one from U2 also covers the Christmas season. A song by a band from a land that saw way too much conflict in the 20th century. Sadly the heart of humanity seems always intent on conflict and division rather than unity and love.

They're reading names out over the radio
All the folks the rest of us won't get to know
Sean and Julia, Gareth, Ann and Brenda
Their lives are bigger than any big idea

Well it is my lovely wife's birthday today and I have the perfect song for this day. "Happy Birthday Helen" by Things of Stone and Wood. Sadly, the audio quality of this video is very poor so I have put two versions of the song one so you can see the Aussie band members of Things of Stone and Wood performing, the other so you can hear the song with decent sound quality. It is always gratifying when one can find the perfect song for an occasion (slightly more aligned than the song I chose for our 20^th wedding anniversary (Covid Island Discs Day 26) 😀.

Video of the band performing but poor sound quality

Audio of song with no video

I am always surprised that even after a full year citing songs for Covid Island Discs I suddenly discover absolute classic rock tunes which I have yet to cite. The band Foreigner certainly deserves its place in Covid Island Discs and have produced some really great hits over the years. This one is probably their most famous and certainly suits my musical tastes because it is so intense musically. The anger in this song reminds me a lot of the Queen hit "Death on Two Legs".

Another great thing about this song is the piano riff which is so distinctive and probably what most people remember about this hit

I remember when Foreigner 4 was released. I was 15 at the time. My friend Robert really liked the album and this was one of the hits on this album that was played regularly on Sydney radio stations. Sadly this live version is not nearly as good as the album version with some quite "on the vocal chords" singing (don't try this sort of thing at home). This song also brings back a memory of me visiting the UK where I stayed with my Aunty and Uncle in their little place in Peckham. Their house was located over the top of my Uncle's service station as my Uncle was a car mechanic. Unbeknown to me, this would be the last time I would see my cousin Michael as tragically he was killed in a car accident in 1988. This was doubly tragic because my Uncle John had a very, very good and close relationship with my cousin Michael and after my cousin's death John was never really the same again.