HERE COMES THE SONG

A song caught my ear on the car radio recently. The voice was familiar. The song floaty, ethereal. Barely two minutes long, Lord of the Reedy River was a balm on a day of constant cold rain and wind. It took me back to the late Sixties. The tranquil ballad was the first song on a long-forgotten album, Post Card by Mary Hopkin. The Welsh teenager was one of the first artists signed to the Beatles’ Apple label and Post Card was produced by Paul McCartney.

In With God On Our Side Dylan took a broader swipe at the mentality of those who seek to justify their brutal and criminal acts of warfare by invoking divine guidance. It is a remarkable composition, its nine verses taking us on a journey through a couple of centuries of US history.

The late Rob Steen’s many generous contributions to this website might never have happened if we had not agreed on the allure of an Eighties hit single, Mary’s Prayer, by a Scottish band who deserved greater recognition, Danny Wilson.

Topping a bill that also included, among others, The Faces, America, Mott The Hoople and Lindisfarne, The Who soon had the ground rocking. Moon closed the innings by battering his drums with a cricket bat during Magic Bus, and the band ended a glorious set with their trademark mass demolition of instruments.

The recent death of Danny Thompson, known best for his distinctive double-bass playing in the revered band Pentangle, struck a chord with many. Thompson founded the group but he played on records of a raft of artists, from Nick Drake and Kate Bush to Everything But The Girl, riding the wave of the Fifties’ skiffle revolution with a tea-chest bass he rebuilt himself before becoming a big player in the Soho folk and rock scene of the Sixties when he joined Alexis Korner’s Blues

Brave Awakening showcases both Terry Reid’s songwriting ability and his rich and soulful vocal range

In the age of the information superhighway there is an expectation that the sum total of human knowledge is accessible with one click and Google is seemingly omniscient. It is highly unusual, not to say curious, that the circumstances surrounding the untimely death of an internationally renowned musician should remain shrouded in mystery for years. But this is the case regarding the demise of Ben Andrews in April 2011 at the age of 51.

Britney’s original version contains a comic interlude which Thompson cleverly replaces with a 16th-century instrumental passage (‘to show how things come round again’), and it works well. But the performance is essentially a mickey-take

Red House was written by Hendrix and follows a standard 12-bar blues format. The word Blues is a colloquialism for sadness and yet great blues songs can be incredibly uplifting. This is because the protagonist almost always triumphs over whatever adversity they are facing. So it is with Red House.

Although Lennon and Harrison contributed harmonies to McCartney’s lead vocal, no Beatle actually plays an instrument on the finished track but it is distinctive for an entirely different reason. Lennon and McCartney seldom disagreed over the authorship of a Beatles song. Eleanor Rigby is a rare example

Huddie Ledbetter, aka Lead Belly, was a hard, rough man prone to violence who spent a portion of his life in prison. He was also one of the most influential figures in the history of American music.

The standout track for me is Love You So. It is hard not to conclude that this was at least in part Rodgers’ heartfelt goodbye to his troubled bandmate

Though The Nice’s later work is dominated by Keith Emerson, the work with Davy O’List is more balanced and in my view more interesting

In the jingle-jangle morning, The Byrds came following. It is not too great a stretch to trace a line from the opening motif of When You Walk In The Room, which is repeated throughout and closes the song, to the instantly recognisable hook that introduces Mr Tambourine Man

Procol Harum are its best-known gift to the world. Yet as a new exhibition titled The Scene By the Sea at the Beecroft Art Gallery demonstrates, there’s far more to Southend (182,000 inhabitants), Canvey Island (38,000) and their corner of Essex than skipping the light fandango and cartwheels across the floor.

A Whiter Shade Of Pale regularly appears near the top of any list of the greatest singles of all time. There is no argument about its brilliance. But every other aspect of the song and its creation is surrounded by controversy.

You would be forgiven for thinking that this was Keith Emerson in action. Emerson was indeed there but in the audience, sitting open-mouthed and experiencing a Road to Damascus epiphany. The organist was Don Shinn of The Soul Agents.

I was happily mansplaining this point to my wife as we were entering the garden centre recently when she shocked me by saying that my interpretation was wrong and that it’s Major Tom who sings ‘She Knows’

Listen To The Lion has precious few lyrics, but Van Morrison delivers each word, each syllable with mantric devotion

Spike Island: Pulp’s singer and lyricist Jarvis Cocker has now written two tracks, three decades apart, which draw on the much-mythologised event on the banks of the Mersey. Neither could be described as a celebration

According to the Söderbergs, the song is about the joy of singing with someone you love, and it name-checks two of music’s most famous partnerships

It sounds radically different from Flack’s majestic later interpretation which Peggy would always admit dwarfs her effort in every sense

There is more fluidity about Ferrell's singing but there is still a regular dip into her repertoire of long-held notes or octave cascades

Musically, John Wayne Gacy, Jr. is one of his simplest pieces. But it is expressed with an exceedingly rare degree of grace and empathy

Originally titled Jock-A-Mo, the song perhaps pre-dates its first recording and is considered emblematic of New Orleans

To comprehend the nasty buzz of that song the listener must appreciate the jubilant inclusivity of Sly And The Family Stone’s earlier music

The authenticity of the sentiments, framed within a pretty, waltz-like tempo, give Tout Suite! an uplifting feel

King's Cross has a muted brilliance – the perfect mix of lyrical interest, a great tune and a generous dollop of melancholy

A Man Needs A Maid is strange but it is wonderful. Like all great art it makes you look at the world differently

Cole carried on excavating (the heart, that is) into his seventh decade with a steady stream of moving recordings

Neil Morton The beaming smile and twinkling eyes said it all as the audience roared their approval when it dawned on them who was on...

Rob Steen If you see me walking down the street And I start to cry, each time we meet Walk on by Walk on by The larynx that introduced...

Rob Steen It’s far too bloody late to stop now. For yours truly, never mind Van the Man. Sorry, Sir Van the Man. At 78, George Ivan...

The tale is a tragic one but Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl left behind some high-quality songs on their album Children Of Fortune

Neil Morton After six years of writing about songwriters I admire for Here Comes The Song, I nervously introduce you to a collection of...

Ian Malin In the harbour of Hydra Town find a narrow passage by the Pirate Bar and follow the winding stone steps upwards. It’s hard work...

Ian Malin The darker side of human nature has always attracted artists. From Hamlet and Paradise Lost to The Sopranos and Breaking Bad we...

Ian Malin Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau struck the right note when he said of the death of Gordon Lightfoot: ‘He captured our...

Ian Malin Remember the early days of Covid lockdown in 2020. All that walking, all that staring out of the window? We all had our pet...

Rob Steen At a guess, 99 per cent of music zealots couldn’t possibly cite their favourite album, if only because the choice is usually so...

Rob Steen Oh I’m on my way, I know I am Somewhere not so far from here All I know is all I feel right now I feel the power growing in my...

Russell Cunningham In 1951 the composer John Cage visited the anechoic chamber at Harvard University. Upon entering he had expected to...

Kate Ellis And when you feel you’re breaking It’s just your past unmaking You’re perfect, you are whole I don’t know what you’ve been...

Rob Steen Time to fess up. I was more or less a Kurt Vile virgin until last week. My son, Joe, had raved aplenty but only one song, One...

Phil Shaw In the days before ubiquitous mobiles, a mate who owned a jukebox was having it repaired when the engineer asked if he could...

Rob Steen I probably shouldn’t be writing this. After all, I am by no means an Elvis fan. I giggled at his movies, never bought anything...

Phil Shaw It scarcely seems possible but Brian Wilson – still celebrated for his sumptuous teenage symphonies for The Beach Boys six...

Ian Tasker If you are talking blues standards then they don’t come much more ready-made, boil-in-the-bag than Muddy Waters’ Got My Mojo...

Tim Woods What kind of Beatles fan are you? Maybe the obsessive type, the sort who whistles the chorus to Honey Pie without even...

Ian Tasker Today is a day for remembrance, reflection and wondering what might have been, for exactly 50 years ago on October 29, 1971,...