So this week sadly contained songs without much video content. I guess the two songs which make my shortlist this week for the best video are:

1. Angel of the Morning by Juice Newton
2. No Surprises, Radiohead

Out of those two, I go for Angel of the morning as the Radiohead video while very clever is very dark indeed and let's face it Judy is a lot more attractive than Jonny Greenwood who has terrible oral hygiene (the calculus on his lower teeth is really off putting. Sorry my Dad was a dentist so I notice these things ????).

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

It will quickly dawn on people as I share my list over the next few weeks that I am still mostly stuck in the 20th century in terms of my music. So just to demonstrate that I have just about managed to make it into the 21st century with some of the music I listen to, this is a song released in 2003 (thought it was later than that).

From the time I was born until I left to come to England in 1992, I used to spend every Easter at Barrington Guest house. This was such a lovely holiday for a special set of families who would converge on the guest house every year for the Easter break. Over the years, these same families became great friends as we enjoyed each other's company. During the Easter break we would walk together in some of most beautiful rain forest in the world, ride horses, feed Rosellas that would eat out of your hand or land on your head, compete in a Davis cup tennis tournament, swim in crystal clear rivers (sliding down a natural rock face slippery dip) and attend one of the most amazing country Saturday bush dances complete with a diagonal couple "Strip the Willow" spin. The older teenagers and twenty somethings would then commandeer a tour bus after the dance and sing songs like "American Pie" until the early hours of the morning. It truly gave me many of the most memorable and enjoyable times in my life.

Yet it was always a downer when the holiday was over and we had returned to Sydney. Although there wasn't much sand at Barrington, sometimes you would find something (say mud or a bloody sock from an encounter with a leech) on your shoes that would make you think, "wow I wish I was back there". Over the years I wrote many silly lyrics to famous tunes sometime to perform at school formals or house parties. Yet the comedown from Barrington one year was enough for me to write my own song (I have only ever written two proper songs in my life) which I guess was along similar lines to this Dido classic. For what it is worth, my chorus went: "it's a matter of time, that drives us fast, pushing our future into the past, a holiday with you, passes too soon, leaving us to steal memories while staring at our room."

There is a sad postscript to this story. In 2006 Helen and I were booked into Barrington Guest House. I drove excitedly to the spot pulling up and getting out of the car to be greeted by someone. The conversation went like this:

Me: "Hi we are here to stay at Barrington"
Bemused person: "you not staying here mate"
Me (a little confused): "why?"
Person: "It burnt down last night"

Why did I not see that? Well the outer shell of the guest house was still standing (I now understand the full meaning of the term when they say a house has been gutted). It was only when you got closer you could see the smouldering smoke rising from the interior. Such a tragedy because the guest house was built sometime early in the 20th century which made it a valuable historical artefact by Australian standards.

Another song from the band America. This live version of the song is not quite as polished as the studio version but still a pretty good rendition. A song that many a young teenage boy and girl have probably related to as they look for partner to walk with them on this very odd journey we call life

Now this song fits the psychedelic sci-fi pop genre perfectly. A complete classic from the rather "out there" band the B52s. This is their third appearance in Covid Island Discs. Enjoy Kate's continuous singing of a single note being electronically mixed with her synthesizer. Very cool.

She came from Planet Claire I knew she came from there She drove a Plymouth Satellite A-faster than the speed of light Planet Claire has pink air All the trees are red No one ever dies there No one has a head

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"

Well this is the 4^th last song of Covid Island Discs. In the final 4 songs I shall return to my favourite bands that have brought me the most listening pleasure over the years. REM certainly is up there with my all time favourites and this song is one of their all time classics. This song also reminds me of my late best friend Jonathan because he misheard the words "a simple prop to occupy my time" and thought Michael Stipe was singing "a simple drop to occupy my time". He thought the "drop" referred to going out with a girl and then dropping (breaking up) with her. As my other best friend used to say "Jonathan always was a bit of a dark horse".

Ok time for another INXS song. This is another song that I changed the lyrics of to create a joke song for a St Paul's fellowship weekend away all the way back when this song was first released on the radio in 1984. As with the 1985 song, which was to the Beach Boy's classic California Girls, I still have the original piece of paper on which I first penned the joke lyrics to this song all those years ago.

The first verse and chorus of this song went:

At Galstone, I think its true
The water's freezing I think it gets through
Oh I wonder how they design
The showers to be so unkind

Chorus
I miss my bathroom
I miss the fun
Of having a shower
Whose temperature is 31