Mor-Than-Words

Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) – Don McLean I knew of this song, but hadn’t really listened or understood it’s message until one day in art college. We had a visiting tutor who did a presentation all about Vincent Van Gogh . I was doing a graphics course and the history part of art was my least favorite lesson, really wasn't to sure how these old masterpieces were meant to help us with our logo and brand design. But this guy started off his lesson by telling us he was a friend of John Lennon ’s back in his Liverpool youth and that got my attention. He went on to say how misunderstood and under rated Van Gogh's art was in his own lifetime and how Vincent had never believed people took him seriously. I was sort of following his point, the poor artist with his own troubles trying to get his paintings appreciated, and it playing heavy on his mindset. Then at the end of the lecture he played a montage of Van Gogh's work with this song playing as its soundtrack. The song is name

    You're the First, the Last, My Everything – Barry White I've recently been learning about music syncing, which is where songs are placed into TV shows and movies. There is a big market for this now with so many more TV channels and streaming services, as well as big Hollywood movies. Each placement can earn good money depending on where it's being used and factors such as how much of the song is used. It got me thinking about TV shows I can remember that used music most effectively. There was a series on Channel 4 in the UK back in the late 90's called Ally McBeal , it was the story of a young lawyer that had moved to Boston. She was having lots of life issues at the time, for example her ex boyfriend happened to work at the same law practice, as did his wife. The funny thing about this show was music was almost one of the characters, there was the usual background incidental music of course, but each of the main characters also had a theme song that played in their

  Eternal Flame – The Bangles This is such a sweet tune, huge song from my teenage years, melted my heart. There weren't that many all girl groups around then, so The Bangles were a big hit with us teenage boys. I didn't understand the power of the lyric back then, I just thought it was another slushy song to have a slow dance to. When you look at the words they are very moving and powerful. The early backing sounds like a music box, just imagine winding it up with a little key and watch it spin round. The lovely soothing backing vocals fill the song out, then when it lifts up it takes you with it. The guitar versus the string backing takes this above the usual 1980's power ballad. Susanna Hoffs ' voice is so achy, you feel what's she's going through. For gods sake put her out her misery, do you feel the same or is she just dreaming. The Eternal Flame image is very symbolic. Apparently it was inspired by the flame that burns at Elvis 's graveside in Gracela

    Are You Gonna Go My Way – Lenny Kravitz I wasn't really aware of Lenny Kravitz before this song, he's a huge artist in his own genre, but after this song he went main stream. Love the guitar and feeling of this tune, let's put it this way 'It Rocks!' This song starts with a roar and it just don't let up the whole way through. Back in 1993, I remember hearing this and being really grateful thinking that Rock music was still alive after all the random music left over from the 1980's (not my favourite decade). Back then there were still music shows on main channel TV, seeing Lenny rocking out with his guitar made that cool again, he's a dude. Indie music was gaining ground, guitar bands were happening again but songs like this just still jumped out. This song appeared on a compilation cassette I had, most of the other tracks on there were the worthy 'trendy' tunes, then this explosion. It's one of those songs where the words and message are

    Running Bear – Johnny Preston I love this song. It's another one from my childhood, it sounds like a kids song, lots of chanting and takes a bit of imagination to get what's going on. It's actually a love song about two Indian's from different warring tribes, they're not allowed to be together.  This is a proper story song, loads of words, total tongue twister. Songs like this were big in the 50's, it's not an obvious setting to write a song about, I guess Westerns were very popular around the time and Cowboys and Indians were a real hit with the public. All sounding very exotic to us over here in the U.K. anything that shouted American was fantasy. Even as a kid listening to this song as a 45 single on a record player 30 years later, it really caught my ear. It was like listening to a bedtime story in three minutes. Running Bear is a cool Indian name, it gives such a strong image of a powerful fast huge guy and Little White Dove gives the impression of

    Wherever You Will Go – The Calling  No idea where this one came from, total American power ballad, it's well chessey but I love it. I'm a sucker for sentimental songs like this, all about always being with the one you love. But it's not really a happy song, apparently it was written about a husband who had lost his wife of over 50 years. The songwriter, Aaron Kamin , was at his grandmother's best friends funeral and the idea for the song came to him. How the husband who was left behind would have followed his beloved if only he could have. Can he now exist without her? The words almost say that they would come back to haunt you if that was possible, love that strong can't be broken. The need to be together is so strong. But like all good songs, you can take it's message in so many different ways. Also most listeners don't delve to deep into the meanings of songs, they just catch onto the suggested obvious tone of the chorus. The general understanding of

     These Boots Are Made for Walkin' – Nancy Sinatra You ready? Love the sliding guitar on the intro to this song, it’s like your heart pounding, you know it's all about to go South. The whole tone and the message are so well matched, you know she means what’s she saying. It’s such a clever, simple way of spinning the ‘leaving’ song idea, mistreat me and you'll get it. When this was a big hit for Nancy Sinatra back in the sixties I expect this was quite racy for it’s time. The words are so well crafted, keep plugging the same message, with some fantastic visual references. The backing is also so dramatic, you get the urgency of the situation. You better start behaving yourself or I’m off. Really like the use of the horns in this, it’s one of those really sparse sounding songs, but when you break it down there’s lots going on in there. It takes some doing but this song is so sexy sounding at the same time as actually saying I'm in control here. In fact it was written b

  Teenage Dirtbag – Wheatus  This whole song hangs on one line from the lyric, ' Man, I feel like mold '. When I heard this blasting out my stereo in 2000 from yet another mix tape, I thought what a great phrase and it sums up being a teenager perfectly. Proper rock guitars and sing along chorus, I think we can all relate to this one even through we'd probably forget all about that side of being young. The words of this are so American, especially referencing bringing a gun to school, but are still very clever and speak directly to their target audience. Leaving the rest of us to be both jealous of their youth and secretly delighted we don't have to live through all that embarrassment again. How hard was it for any teenage boy to get the attention of the one girl you were helplessly in love with and she just didn't even know you existed. This song came from a real place, that feeling of being an outsider, as always with these silly songs there's usually a dark

  Footloose – Kenny Loggins From the distinctive drumming intro, then that dramatic guitar riff, were off on three minutes of fun. What a great tune to get the ole foot tapping, certainly makes you feel footloose. While the 1984 movie of the same name might not be quite my cup of tea, this title track from Kenny Loggins is a masterpiece of 80's rock. Can't ever get tired of that guitar sound, the rest of the backing is so up beat it's nuts. The lyrics aren't exactly complicated, but they are positive and capture that feeling of wanting to break out the working week and go enjoy yourself. Don't let your life just pass you by, get out there and have fun. Lose your blues. Wise words. As with lots of these successful 80's movie, working on the assumption they made a lot of money once, let's remake them. There's a 2011 second version of this movie, using the same theme music but this time with a more Country twist by an artist I really like, Blake Shelton

    Castle On The Hill – Ed Sheeran I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Sheeran , it just so happened that one of his school friends was working with us at the time. He casually asked if we would like to go with him to meet some of his mates, a few of us from the office tagged along to a Cuban bar behind Waterloo station in London for Friday drinks. As we were chatting away Ed popped up, he'd had a few big hits by then, but he wasn't recognisable enough to cause an issue. We had a pleasant chat with him and left the friends to enjoy the evening. I wasn't a big fan at the time but came away thinking what a nice guy he was and very grounded. Soon after he blew up into a global superstar, Taylor Swift duets and all. Then role on a few years, my niece managed to win a competition to see Ed live at Wembley Stadium . She asked would I take her and being the 'cool' uncle, I said of course. As they were winning tickets we had a great view, near the front. I have to say he blew

    Feed The Birds – Mary Poppins ( Julie Andrews ) I was watching a documentary on PL Travis , the author of Mary Poppins , and her relationship with Walt Disney who took her stories and made them into the iconic movie starring Julie Andrews . It seems there is always a sub plot to all these most famous stories, PL Travis was a complicated character and her books much darker than the animated film. The story of their relationship and PL Travis attempts to stop Walt Disney making his masterpiece has also been turned into a movie, Saving Mr. Banks . Personally I prefer that film even more than Mary Poppins itself as it gives you a glimpse into how they made the amazing Disney films back in the day. The storytelling and settings were as clever as the game changing animation techniques they developed, but the part that fascinates me personally is how the Sherman Brothers came up with the amazing music that's featured throughout the film. Taking the plot and dialogue and crafting t

    Space Oddity – David Bowie Today would have been David Bowie 's 74th birthday, and it's the 5th anniversary of him passing on the 10th. I remember my dad was taking me to the train station when news of his sudden death came on the radio, it shocked the music world especially as he had only just released a new album. David Bowie was yet another of the 70's artists that I never quite got, really liked some of his songs but couldn't ever see the musical genius that most other music lovers could. This is an amazing song, it so sums up the space race around the time of it's release 1969. Bowie really did move with the times, I like a song of his, ' Love You Till Tuesday ' which was released in the swinging sixties. Glam Rock then had a strange effect on his appearance and song subject matter. His later life stuff went well above my head, to conceptual for me. My main image of Bowie is dancing his way through one of the campest videos ever with Mr. Moves Like

  Come Away With Me – Norah Jones Need to relax and de-stress, listen to this lady's voice, it'll make you feel sleepy just hearing her sing. Norah Jones has an amazing relaxed style, this track is so soothing and tranquil. Love the subtle texture and slightly up and down movement of the melody, you could almost be on a boat drifting on the ocean. The bass player is like a clock in the background and the gentle guitar adds to the mood. This one is from 2002, it's the title track from Norah's debut album. It's quite Jazzy for my usual tastes, could be considered a slow blues, but it's quality production and arrangement makes it so listenable. The song itself wasn't much of a hit in the UK. The album of the same name on the other hand has sold over 26 million copies and falls bang in the middle of what used to be called Easy Listening, in other worlds it has global appeal. Even to those people who say they are not music lovers, it's the sort of music that

You'll Never Walk Alone – Gerry & The Pacemakers We lost Gerry Marsden yesterday, this song of his with his band The Pacemakers has played a big part in my life. My Dad is a Liverpool supporter and I associate this song very much with him. The lyrics are so powerful, the message is so supportive, it's a wonderful concept that you'll never be alone. You need to keep going, walk on and keep the hope. The song was iconic amongst football fans, to see the entire Kop stand at Anfield sing this as one sends chills up your spine and puts fear into the opposition. It went to another level when they sang it in tribute to all the 96 fans that died in the Hillsborough tragedy . I'm sure when Gerry searched this song out he could never thought how iconic it would become. The song is from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and the words make perfect sense as part of the story, but it takes a bit of belief to take such a song away from it's setting and release

  Happy – Pharrell Williams Happy New Year, here we are in 2021. Thought I'd try and cheer myself up with this joyous number, HAPPY. We could all do with a bit of this after the year we have just gone through. It's not my usual sort of thing, but it's a very positive, catchy song and I love that. It's like a more modern version of Stevie Wonder 's Happy Birthday song. I associate this song with a holiday I had a few years ago, it was at a family owned holiday camp and the entertainment team used to start each evening's show with this song banging out the speakers. We had a lot of fun that week and it brings it all back hearing this song. There's nothing complicated about this song, the lyrics are fun and a simple statement that bad news can do one. Reading up on this, as well as being a huge No.1 in the US, apparently this was the best selling song in the UK in 2014. It was No.1 here on three different occasions and is the eighth best selling single ever,