This week's best video from a visual point of view goes to Michael Penn's "No Myth" although a close second would be Fleetwoodmac's "Tusk". The Tusk video is interesting but the video quality is a little poor.

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

OK day 1 of social isolation. To keep myself and perhaps some of you guys amused I am going to post a song from Youtube each day and a bit about why I like it. Rather than call it Desert Island Discs, I will call it Covid Island Discs. So many of my Australian friends know that when I was a young teenager/20 something year old (a few years back, not saying which planet years), one of my favourite bands was Supertramp. Therefore, it would be wrong of me not to start with one of their songs. The song is called Hide in Your Shell.

I tend to really like songs with good lyrics and this one has a rich set. Trying to choose my favourite line is difficult but several really shine such as:

1. "heaven or hell was the journey cold that gave you eyes of steal, sheltered behind well painting your mind and playing joker."
2. "but you got demons in your closet, and your screaming out to stop it, saying life's began to cheat you, friends our out to beat you grab onto what you can scramble for."
3. "I as a boy I believed the sane cure for pain was love, how would it be if you could see the world through my eyes."

Enjoy

So the other half of the rock collaboration that produced "Under Pressure" was Queen. Their most famous song is obviously "Bohemian Rhapsody", however the original video for this song does not appear to be on Youtube. I thought of posting "The Prophet's Song" but, given the darkness of the times, best go for something a little more cheerful.

This song also appeared on "A Night at the Opera" (the album that carried Bohemian Rhapsody). I dedicate it to all my lovely friends out there. God keep and bless you xx.

"???? Bedoo do do do do do do do Bedoo do do do do do do do.????????"

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.

In the 80s Pink Floyd released what was then to be their last album entitled "The Final Cut". This represent the point where Roger Waters left the band. Some years later the remaining members of Pink Floyd released another album suitably titled "A Momentary lapse of Reason". However, "the final cut" is more Roger Waters than Pink Floyd per se and the main theme of the album's songs is based around a strong protest against Thatcher's Falklands war.

This song however returns to Water's other major theme captured in their album "The Wall". The idea of how we all hide our genuine selves from other people. In this context the final cut is full of double meaning from suicide to the cutting away of all external pretence to reveal one's "dark side". And yet "if I show you my dark side, will you still hold me tonight?" is the age-old question Waters considers in this heavy but moving song.

For me this song always has a double meaning. The song makes me think of my own late father but also my heavenly father. Enjoy the guitaring.

Yesterday I cited a Travis song. Not sure why but Travis and Keane always remind me of each other so I thought it was therefore time for another Keane song. This is also the second time Keane has appeared in Covid Island Discs. The last song I cited was She has no time which I think is their prettiest song. This one however is probably one of their most famous and better known I think than "She has no time"