This is my take on Take On Me, the A-ha classic from 1984. I’ve jazzed it up a bit and I’m not 100% sure if it works, but I hope you enjoy it!
For more ‘restyled’ music, click here, and to hear all of my July songs, click here. If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about why I’m trying to record a piano tune every day here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/take-on-me
Today I’m playing the theme from the cartoon Top Cat which I remember fondly from my youth. Having done my research before posting the tune I’m amazed to find that there were only ever 30 Top Cat episodes made, so I must have seen all of them many times!
I hope this brings happy memories back for you! For more reworked TV themes, click here, and to hear all of my June songs, click here. If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about why I’m trying to record a piano tune every day here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/theme-from-top-cat
Today I’m playing Robbie Williams’ song Supreme for my sister and family who are on their way to Italy and are starting their holiday at the Lucca Summer Festival tonight where Robbie Williams is playing in the Piazza Napoleone. This song was released in 2000 from the Sing When You’re Winning album, and interestingly features the instrumental from Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive in the break, inspired, apparently, by tourists humming this melody while Robbie was on tour in Switzerland!
This is another of those songs where I’m duetting with myself – there was just too much going on for two hands! As a result it’s a bit messy I’m afraid, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!
To hear more July songs, click here. If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about why I’m trying to record a piano tune every day here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/supreme
It’s time for another 80s classic from the “year of years”, 1987. Today I’m playing T’Pau’s China In Your Hand. The lyrics make reference to the story of Frankenstein, and according to the lead singer, Carol Decker, when you hold a china cup up to the light you can see your hand through it, so “china in your hand” refers to something as transparent. I’ve played the song in B Flat major, but interestingly the released version is half way between B Flat and B, because the speed of the recording was increased to reduce the running time of the single!
Listen to more 80s songs here, and to hear more July songs, click here. If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about why I’m trying to record a piano tune every day here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/china-in-your-hand
When I looked back at my list of the 500+ songs I’ve played in my two years of 365 Songs I was amazed to see that I’ve not yet played Billy Joel’s all-time classic My Life. So, that’s today’s song. Featured on the 1978 album 52nd Street and later released as a single, this is one of the most well-known Billy Joel songs ever released. My favourite memory of the song My Life is when Billy played Glasgow in a solo concert back in the 90s. He started the familiar left hand piano octave quavers introduction, let the excitement develop in the arena and then started playing Scotland The Brave with his right hand. Needless to say the crowd went wild and joined in all the more enthusiastically as the song itself began. Wonderful memories!
There’s more Billy Joel here, and to hear more July songs, click here. If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about why I’m trying to record a piano tune every day here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/my-life
Il Cielo In Una Stanza, or as I first heard it performed by Carla Bruni, Le Ciel Dans Une Chambre is a beautiful melody, and Bruni’s interpretation is perfect. Having researched the song a bit to post it today I’ve discovered that it was originally written in Italian by Gino Paoli and recorded by Italian singer Mina in 1960. However, the composer criticised the original Mina version when he heard Bruni’s version in 2010, claiming “Mina sings it the same way she would sing the phone book. I don’t know if she understands what she sings”. I hope I’ve played this a bit more musically than the piano equivalent of a phone book!
To hear more July songs, click here. If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about why I’m trying to record a piano tune every day here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/le-ciel-dans-une-chambre
A bit of a different song today: it’s ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me, but not quite in the 80s disco style that you may be used to. Ranked as one of the greatest dance songs of all time by Slant Magazine, this track made if to #7 in the UK charts, and was curiously released only as a 12″ single. I’m sure I’ve still got this rare 12″ single somewhere!
There are more ABBA songs here, and to hear more July songs, click here. If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about why I’m trying to record a piano tune every day here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/lay-all-your-love-on-me
Today marks 7 years since I left my post in the education department of East Ayrshire Council to run Radio Lingua full time. I had been working evenings and weekends and then gradually went down to working 2.5 days at East Ayrshire and 2.5 days (or 4.5 days!!!) for Radio Lingua, but on 18th July 2008 I handed in my resignation and I haven’t looked back since! Don’t get me wrong: I loved working with colleagues from East Ayrshire and the other authorities involved in the Partners in Excellence project, but being my own boss and gradually building the business and the team has been a wonderful experience and here’s hoping for many more years!
The song I’ve chosen for today is Edith Piaf’s classic Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (literally, “no, I don’t regret anything” or “I have no regrets”). In addition to being one of the most famous French songs ever recorded, this song was also used extensively in the brilliant 2010 film Inception. The theme is based on a slowed-down version of the song, and the running time of the film, 2 hours 28 minutes (of mind-bending confusion!) makes reference to the length of the song when it was originally recorded at 2 minutes 28 seconds!
There are more French songs here, and to hear more July songs, click here. If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about why I’m trying to record a piano tune every day here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/non-je-ne-regrette-rien
Today I’m playing a special piece of music for our neighbours who have just had a beautiful baby girl. These are the same neighbours whose wedding I was very happy to play at a couple of years ago, as I’ve mentioned before with A Thousand Years, Ave Maria and Greatest Day and we’re delighted for them on the arrival of their daughter.
Waltz in A Flat or Brahms’ Lullaby or Cradle Song is one of the most recognisable lullabies in the world, used by parents to sing their babies to sleep. Brahms dedicated it to his friend Bertha Faber on the birth of her second son.
To hear more July songs, click here. If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about why I’m trying to record a piano tune every day here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/waltz-in-a-flat
I heard Englishman In New York being performed by a busker with his guitar in Palma de Mallorca last week and thought I must add this song to my repertoire. Released by Sting in 1988 as the third single from the …Nothing Like the Sun album, it didn’t do particularly well in the charts but it has become something of a classic since. The Englishman in question is the famous eccentric Quentin Crisp.
There’s more Sting here, and to hear more July songs, click here. If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about why I’m trying to record a piano tune every day here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/englishman-in-new-york
