So this week most visually interesting video is "Knowing me, knowing you" by Abba. As mentioned in the main text for this song, it is a little unsettling that this song appears to be working through the slow burn disintegration of the band's marriages through both the lyrics of the song and indeed the content of the video.

The other song I would possibly include from this week is Carly Simon's "Nobody does it better" simply because like "You're so Vain" it is filmed in the same marina and wow what a place for a Carly Simon concert.

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 I will admit this wasn't going to be my original entry but then Anthony Holmes reminded me of this album in one of his posts. It makes sense to post it today because it also fits with my rock collaboration theme where Sting does the "I want my MTV".

However, another reason for posting is because I have quite a funny back story to this song. In 1985, the year after I had left school this album was released. That year my school friend Mark Short, who was doing journalism at the time, rang me to ask if I knew anything about an unfolding story of the 1985 Higher School Certificate papers being stolen. I was nonplussed that he should think I would know anything about such seedy goings on.

Yet of course Mark was one step ahead of the game as it turned out that the whole unsavoury affair was centred around our local high school (Balgowlah Boys High School, oh yeah mate that the sort of names we give our suburbs in Aus) where some characters in that school managed to get hold of the national test papers before they were sat by the general public. How do I know this? Well my dear late friend Jonathan Higgs, who was one of the top students in the school, was approached by one of the boys, who had the 2 unit HSC mathematics paper, and asked if he could solve a particular problem from it. Of course Jon did not know it was his year's HSC and given he was a 4 unit maths student, he never sat the 2 unit paper anyway. Looking back so many years later, it still makes me laugh.

So why is this story connected with this song you ask? Well after the fiasco blew over, some cheeky group released a cover song of Money for Nothing which was all about the stolen 1985 HSC papers. I don't remember any of the lyrics except for the iconic Sting line: "I want my MTV" which they of course changed to "I want my HSC".

This song has an interesting back story. Sting wrote this song about totalitarian regimes that keep tight control over their population through extensive surveillance.

However, after this song was released, Sting received lots of letters from starry-eyed couples saying how this song captured beautifully the dynamics of their relationship. Sting was so nonplussed by the correspondence that he wrote and released tomorrow's song.

I always think Kim Carnes is the female version of Rod Stewart (in terms of voice of course). Ahh just realised I haven't posted a song from Rod Stewart yet!

This song captures an unusual theme. It is written from the perspective of a sexual pervert who listens "through these walls" at couples making love and sees through the windows at the girls and boys imagining the noise.

As the song progresses Phil sings

Oh I'm feeling like I'm locked in a cage No way in, no way out, and it gets so lonely Am I really asking a lot Just to reach out and touch somebody 'Cause when I look through my windows or open my door I can feel it all around me

In an odd way the song captures the broken humanity of the pervert who is simply incredibly relationally disabled and just wants to end his loneliness.

OK this video clip is a bit of unusual find where Paul Simon and Willie Nelson duet on the Simon and Garfunkel classic Homeward Bound. Willie Nelson certainly brings a unique sound to this classic song as no-one has the vocal tonality of Willie's unique signature voice.

Another song that has only been premiered this year. This one by John Mayer was released in June and again like the Coldplay song rather upbeat and a nice song to listen to. I wonder if the centre of gravity of pop music is starting to shift again away from R&B which has dominated the current music scene for way too long in my opinion. Love the all white acoustic guitar in this video clip. Very cool.