A YEAR IN SONG

 Of course you remember that I said I would write a post on relevant songs for the months of the year.

Just in case your old memories need refreshing though, here's a link: THINGS WERE DESPERATE UP NORTH ...

... where I concluded:

I trust that you enjoyed this 'concept'. who knows it could be extended into months of the year, seasons of the year (Vivaldi and Stravinsky wrote some tunes about these), planets (Holst will be at the forefront there but The Moody Blues could give him a run for his money not to mention Alabama 5 with 'Woke Up This Morning').

So, let's get started.

JANUARY

Surprisingly there are a lot of songs about or named January but for me Van Morrison (with Steve Winwood)'s 'Fire In The Belly' is the best. Have a listen to this with its musicianship and phrasing.

"Gotta get through January

Gotta get through February

Gotta get through January

 Gotta get through February"

 This could also be the choice for FEBRUARY.

FEBRUARY

OK, you probably think that February songs should reference Valentines Day and for sure there are a lot of them but have you heard Lou Reed's 'Christmas In February'?

Like Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The USA' this is a song about the pain and disillusionment of Vietnam war veterans who returned to the same old shit and worse. No Happy Valentines here.

MARCH

Yes, we could go the Souza way and there a hell of a lot of marching songs but let's stick with the calendar theme here.

Alice in Wonderland March Hare references are good and I do like Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit' song. 

Many of the March-themed songs are dark and with Heavy Metal overtones.

Here's one that's reminiscent of early Pink Floyd and Emmerson Lake and Palmer albums.

Like that?

Oh well, never mind, let's go to April.

APRIL

There's lots of material to work with in April given it's Spring in the northern hemisphere so Spring, Paris, flowers, showers and towers (Eiffel) feature a lot.

There are a lot of 'stronger' songs as well by Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Three Dog Night, Jesus and Mary Chain etc. that I like .... Richard, look away now .... I have never liked Dragon's 'April Sun In Cuba' song.

For the quintessentially best - I personally love this and believe you'd have to look far and wide to find better - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong performing 'April In Paris'.

MAY

Old head bangers like Robert will probably think of Led Zeppelin and Robert Plant's 'The May Queen'.

Richard no doubt will recall Paderewski's 'Variations and Fugue on the Former nice month known as May now known as Mayhem.' 

As for me the first song about May I recall is The Bee Gees 'First Of May'.

When I was at school I bought a Bee Gees Greatest Hits album (prior to their disco days). This was in the time of Cat Stevens, Scott McKenzie, Simon and Garfunkel and all the gentle and lyrical pop songs but some of the Bee Gees stuff is still nice to listen to. I really like this one:

JUNE

Moon/June and lots of romantic nonsense populates a lot of June songs (northern summer) but the song I like most is The Kink's 'Rainy Day In June'. Ray Davis is the master of lyrics and would have been a poet if he hadn't been a musician.

Classy stuff,

JULY

The bloody Americans with their Fourth of July nonsense dominate in July songs but there are a few gems that slip through.

Who better to cut through all that shit than Nina Simone with 'July Tree'?

This delicate song bolstered by her powerful and sultry voice is a favourite.

AUGUST

All of the bloggers in this community share August as their birth month.

Richard no doubt will get out his 'Hot August Night' album by Neil Diamond - he likes Neil Diamond and gets lots of requests for his music at his gigs.

Robert will wait until he's alone and uncover his Taylor Swift single - 'August' and bop around in his bedroom.

As for me, my choice is Van Morrison's 'Cold Wind In August'.

SEPTEMBER

There aren't many September songs known to me although, looking on the 'net there are lots and lots of them, most just titled 'September' or 'September Song'.

Richard no doubt will cite Neil Diamond's 'September Morn' and Robert Tauren Wells's song 'September' but for me, I'll stick with James Taylor and his gentle 'September Grass'.

I'll end September though with Kurt Weill's lovely 'September Song'

OCTOBER

October is a funny month with many songs and compositions but not that many that stand out for me even from singers I like - Amy Winehouse and James Taylor so, instead, here's Dylan Thomas reading his poem 'Poem In October'.

I trust that you enjoyed that. If not I'm sure that Taylor Swift has an October song somewhere.

NOVEMBER

Northern hemisphere November obviously is in winter and cold so many of the songs are about this.

Why not then go to the master of doom and gloom and select Tom Waits's 'November'. After all it's about death and is about as bleak as it gets:

DECEMBER

Hey! Christmas songs. Yay! 

Well, maybe not since just about all of the worst songs ever written and performed are Christmas songs 99.9% of which I detest. The few that I do like are 'Little Drummer Boy,' 'Fairy Tale of New York', 'White Christmas', 'Baby It's Cold Outside' and very few others.

The stand out for me for December - and remember that I'm a curmudgeon - is Merle Haggard's 'If We Make It Through December'.

I like the juxtaposition of the jaunty tune and smily voice with the depressing story.

Enjoy!

I hope you liked my calendar choices. Mind you I could have saved you a lot of reading and listening by just providing this excellent Flanders and Swann song: