So this week the two songs that make my shortlist for the best video are:

1. Never tear us apart, INXS
2. Head over feet, Alanis Morissette

The second video is a little disconcerting because the song's lyrics is about a woman who has found the love of her life yet Alanis's facial expressions in this song convey a deep incongruence between the expected emotion of the song and the emotion she conveys in the images of this video. In some ways, you can almost that the woman in the video is suffering from some major psychological disturbance rather than being a healthy individual singing about the joys of her new romantic relationship

Thus my vote this week goes to Never tear us apart by INXS. The city that this video is filmed in is Prague which is an incredibly beautiful city and very well worth visiting if you have never been there. I also like the scene change at 1 minute 24 seconds which accompanies the line "two worlds colliding"

OK I'm one lucky guy. Firstly, to marry a wonderful woman who has patiently put up with me for 20 years and secondly, because I fluked starting my Aussie music theme before realising that the perfect song to post for my 20^th wedding anniversary was in fact by an Aussie group, Little River Band. Therefore I have not messed up my Covid Island disc theme!

Well it is not quite the perfect song if you listen closely to the lyrics but hey, the main gist is there.

"Happy anniversary baby...."

One of the funny things about doing Covid Island Discs is that even after citing hundreds of songs you suddenly realise you have completely left out a major rock group. It dawned on me I have not as yet had a Cure song so here is one of their most famous ones. I think they may make another appearance before we finally escape Covid isand.

I must confess I only half like Oasis, however, given I'm currently sharing Manchester bands and groups whose members are local to me, it can't get much closer than Oasis who were born and bread in Burnage, the suburb of Manchester where I now live.

Sadly Noel and Liam Gallagher are not particularly functional people and have now been locked in an undying family feud which I assume continues to this day. This song is a nicely arranged Oasis classic but the lyrics perhaps get to the heart of all their relational dysfunction: the lie that you can do what you bloody well like independent of others and its consequences (reminds me of Brexit a little). True to form, Noel Gallagher refuses to wear a mask during the Covid-19 pandemic - "whatever", I guess ????.

Another bizarre unique Christmas video. The other thing that keeps me going in life is comedy and one of my all time favourite double acts were Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. Their head to heads were hilarious but this head to head quickly takes an interesting Christmas musical twist with none other but Kim Wilde. Well worth watching if you haven't seen it before.

PS: this video hasn't aged well in relation to the gag about Rolf Harris.

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

So this song is particularly interesting lyrically for it covers a disturbing theme of a guy who hits a woman in his car while driving home. Out of fear he doesn't stop but continues on his way. It is clear from the song that the woman is not killed but remains in a permanent coma. Although the hit and run driver escapes justice, he cannot escape his conscience and it is his anguish cry against his conscience that occupies the chorus of the song

All my life I'll be haunted by
All my life just one moment in time
All my life until the day I die
And it will live inside of me
I will never be free all my life
Trapped in her memory all my life
Till the day that you open your eyes

Can't believe it has taken me so long to cite this very old Beach Boys classic and this is the first time they appear in Covid Island Discs. This song brings back a nice memory for me relating to my old St Paul's youth group. Every year we would go away together for a least one or two house parties and during the weekend's festivities we would have some form of a campers concert on Saturday night. I used to take popular songs and reword them with silly lyrics and one year I reworded California Girls. Amazingly I still have the tatty bit of paper it was written on in 1985 (36 years ago!).

The first verse and chorus went

It's Friday night and we're cruising on the bus down Telford way Trying to find the turnoff so we don't end up in Yowie (yes it is a real place) bay We went down many dirt roads just to see where they would lead If only we could have seen the signs, if only we could read Chorus: I wish that I could see where my bed was I wish that I could unknot my pants I wish they hadn't created Seaforth girls

Well it was funny when we were 18 something years old performing lots of silly skits! The other bit of trivia related to this song is of course it inspired the Beatles to write "Back in the USSR" with the classic lines: "Ukraine girls really knock me out, they leave the west behind and Moscow girls make me sing and shout that Jojo's always on my my my my my mind"