Today’s song, coming a bit late in the day, is Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne. I wasn’t too familiar with this song and had never played it before tonight, but it’s a powerful song with beautiful lyrics. I hope you enjoy this piece.
First time on the site? Find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of February’s songs here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/suzanne/s-txey4
The idea for today’s song came when my sons were watching Guardians of the Galaxy and I remembered this song from Ally McBeal days. Hooked on a Feeling was recorded by various artists, but the most well-known version was the Blue Swede release in 1974 which included the “hooga chaka” introduction first recorded by Jonathan King.
The bass line of the verses of the Blue Swede version reminds me very much of Abba’s Nina Pretty Ballerina bass line. Have a listen: here’s Nina Pretty Ballerina and verse 2 of Hooked on a Feeling (from “lips as sweet as candy…”). There must have been something in the water in Sweden in the 70s…
Blue Swede lead singer Björn Skifs is a bit of a Swedish legend and Hooked on a Feeling has huge appeal. Here is his 2014 performance at the wonderful summer open air concerts in Stockholm’s Skansen.
First time on the site? Find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of February’s songs here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/hooked-on-a-feeling-1
After Lady Gaga’s Sound of Music tribute last night at the Oscars, I thought the most appropriate song to play this morning was The Sound of Music. I played Climb Ev’ry Mountain last time round, and there are no doubt more Sound of Music tunes to be played this year. For now, I hope you enjoy this!
First time on the site? Find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of February’s songs here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/the-sound-of-music
Today’s song is Enya’s Watermark from the 1988 album of the same name. It featured in the 1990 comedy Green Card and, randomly, in the animated film Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted! I hope you enjoy this relaxing piece of music for a Sunday.
First time on the site? Find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of February’s songs here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/watermark/s-ghsAV
One of the things I’m most enjoying about this year’s challenge is the variety of songs I’m playing: this week I’ve covered everything from songs from the shows, to Mozart, to dance anthems and I’m finishing the week with Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus! I think the video of this song distracts from what is actually a really good pop song with strong lyrics and a powerful melody line, especially with the repeated fifth and sixth intervals of the verse. I hope you enjoy my version and you’ll be glad to know there’s no accompanying video!
First time on the site? Find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of February’s songs here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/wrecking-ball/s-GALbt
Today I’m up in Aberdeen, speaking at my third SCILT Business Breakfast to school children from across the northeast about the importance of studying languages. It’s been a pleasure taking part in these events, working with a great team and speaking to enthusiastic learners.
As The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen is the only song I know about Aberdeen it seemed right to play it today, but I’ve got a confession to make. It wasn’t until I was listening to Kenneth McKellar’s jaunty version in preparation for recording my version and I heard the reference to the “heavenly dancers” in the verse that I realised the Northern Lights referred to were the Aurora Borealis and not what I assumed were the harbour lights! I’m feeling a bit daft now…
I didn’t see any Northern Lights last night. I’ll just have to go to Iceland or Norway…
First time on the site? Find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of February’s songs here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/the-northern-lights-of-old/s-IeQvj
Today’s song is Abba’s Hasta Mañana. This song was almost chosen as their 1974 Eurovision entry in favour of Waterloo as it was thought that Waterloo may be too risky and Hasta Mañana represented more the style of Eurovision. Waterloo won out in the end and the rest was history! This seems like a simple song, but I think the chord pattern is pretty sophisticated. It’s definitely not a three-chord song! In my E major version the chorus goes like this: E – G#m – C#m – C#7 – F#m B – F# – B – E – G#m – C#7 – F#m – A – Am – E – C#7 – F#m – B – E. So if you want to strum along you’ll be fine. At least until the modulation but that’s what capos are for!
First time on the site? Find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of February’s songs here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/hasta-ma-ana/s-jNC3k
My previous piano version of a Mozart choral piece (Laudate Dominum) seemed to go down well, so I’ve decided to play the beautiful Ave Verum Corpus dating from 1791. I remember singing this with Glasgow University Choral Society what seems like a hundred years ago and I’ve enjoyed playing this piece since then. I’ve added a sort of ethereal choir sound to the performance today so I hope you enjoy this.
First time on the site? Find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of February’s songs here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/ave-verum-corpus/s-RTrBk
Today’s song is One Direction’s debut single from 2011, What Makes You Beautiful. This song won the 2012 BRIT Award for Best British Single and the music video is apparently the 18th most watched music video in history according to YouTube. It was covered in 2012 by the Piano Guys with a very clever performance involving a lot of grand-piano-string-plucking. I suppose my version is probably a bit more Piano Guys than One Direction!
First time on the site? Find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of February’s songs here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/what-makes-you-beautiful
Today’s song, Why, God, Why? is from the 1989 musical Miss Saigon. In the musical Chris is about to leave Vietnam but realises he has fallen for Kim and this will have a profound effect on events. I actually recorded four other songs from Miss Saigon in 2010, so I’ve put these together in a Soundcloud playlist. Please let me know what you think by posting a comment here on the blog!
First time here? Find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of February’s songs here.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-pentleton/why-god-why
