So for this final playlist I am not going to comment on the videos in this week's list. Instead I shall just cite the lyrics of my final song to close Covid Island Discs Given the mess we're are in with the Covid-19 delta variant and runaway global heating, I think many reading these lyrics will feel a sense of "Amen" to that.

I've been living to see you Dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this This was unexpected, what do I do now Could we start again, please? I've been very hopeful so far Now for the first time I think we're going wrong Hurry up and tell me this is just a dream Or could we start again, please? I think you've made your point now You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home Before it gets too frightening we ought to call a halt So could we start again, please? I've been living to see you Dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this This was unexpected, what do I do now Could we start again, please? Could we start again, please? I think you've made you point now You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home Before it gets too frightening we ought to call a halt So could we start again, please? Could we start again, please? Could we start again, please? Could we start again, please? Could we start again, please? Could we start again? Could we start again?

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

This lady has such a beautiful voice. I also attach a live version of this song which was recorded probably on someone's mobile at a small concert she gave just to say how faithfully she can reproduce her sound outside of the recording studio.

I think most of us at some points in our life can relate to the lyrics of this song. Very interesting video and well worth watching.

This song I first shared all the way back when I was doing Covid Island Discs on Facebook. Little did I know then that I would still be sharing songs six months later. Given 2020 is a leap year, day 183 is exactly the six month mark so what better way to celebrate (if you can call it that) than with this song from the New Zealand band Split Enz. Now obviously I can't have any repeats in my play list so I have replaced day 38 with another song which fits the theme of that time which was strange hit wonders. If you're interested to see what I have replaced this day with then click here.

So this is the second song from Cyndi Lauper to be cited on Covid Island Discs. This song brings back lots of memories of being a young teenager in year 11 high school. Cyndi Lauper's album "She's so unusual" really dominated the Australian airwaves and this was probably the main hit from the album along with the other main hit from the album being Girls just want to have fun

OK so as I said in an earlier citation of Michael Jackson's "Beat it" song Michael Jackson is not my favourite artist which is why this is only the second time he has appeared in Covid Island Discs. However, if "Beat it" is my favourite song this one is definitely my second favourite as it does have that musical intensity that I find particularly appealing. The only thing in the song that slightly spoils it for me is his high pitched "oohhs".

OK so today I went for my first swim at Grand Central. The last time I swam there was the same week Covid Island Disc started as this was the last time the pool was open before the UK went into lockdown. Although the pool opened again in 2021, I have been back until today

During my swim however I struck up a conversation with a bloke who was in my lane called Matt and it turned out he managed different bands. He picked up on my Australian and then told me about some of the Australian bands he managed. One of them apparently is quite big in Australia and appears regularly on the alternative Sydney rock station Triple J. Anyway, the band is called Stand Atlantic and this is one of their Youtube hits.