You might not have noticed but I like to do something a little bit different for the Saturdays in my Advent Calendar. Next week will be a Christmas Eve special, but for today I thought I’d give you a selection of Englishness in music. One of these is by a well-known band – well, this side of the Atlantic, anyway – but the others may be less familiar. I think this selection can best be described as ‘quirky.’

The first one is by the band I think are by a distance the most recognised in this set, though for some reason they have never had much chart success in North America. Just about everywhere else, but not there. This is a typically happy little song by them:

That one will no doubt be unfamiliar outside these shores, unless anyone remembers me posting it for the past couple of years. As I said, the fact that Status Quo have had so little chart success in the US is mystifying to me, as I’d have thought they were ideally suited to that market, but it has just never happened for them: a couple of hits with their very early singles, then nothing for the more than fifty years since then. This one was released in December 2008 and reached #40 in the UK singles chart – it will never go down as a classic, but I rather like it. When I played this one last year I found that the video didn’t work in the US – the fates were definitely conspiring against them! But I found a couple of alternatives: someone has uploaded a copy of it here, and there is also a live tv appearance here. Hopefully one or both of those will work for you!

I played this one in 2018 and 2020 but not last year. It’s another little bit of jollity, so I thought I’d give it a further airing:

You know what? I absolutely love that, as it is so much fun. And three pretty ladies always help (see later!). When I played this previously I remarked that it ranked at the Stinking Bishop end of cheesiness, but who cares! Si Cranstoun is an interesting character, and probably won’t be known to you unless you have an incredibly good memory for my ancient posts. It seems that he had apparently been in ska and fifties revival bands, and had been a busker too, for twenty years before getting his first record deal a few years back. He has since made several albums of fifties-influenced songs: he has a great voice and his sheer exuberance deserves to win him a bigger audience. I hope he finds it, because his music is so much better than the dross we get on the radio nowadays. There are a number of other videos of him on YouTube, including some from his busking days, so do check him out if you enjoyed this one. I’m not alone in liking him: this video has been watched more than 6.5m times.

The next two songs are both from the same tv show, which was broadcast by the BBC in 2010 under the name Christmas Sessions. The first of them is from a band you may well recognise, as they are my favourite live band. Bellowhead have been featured here a fair bit, including earlier in this series (Day 5, if you missed it). This is what they and a bunch of other luminaries of the current English folk music scene did to a standard:

Jingle Bells done by a massed choir! Raucous, rowdy, and a heck of a lot of fun. As you may have spotted, the show was themed along the lines of a Victorian English music hall, and was a wonderful hour of music and jollity. This is a slightly gentler offering from it:

Thea Gilmore has been releasing records, both on recognised labels and independently, since 1998. To date she has a total of nineteen albums to her name, eight of which have reached the UK top 100 chart (her highest placing is #39, twice), plus six EPs and thirteen singles, three of which have hit the top 100 (best placing #35). She also has a twentieth album, released in October 2021 under the name ‘Afterlight.’ I think it is a real shame that she hasn’t had more commercial success, as her albums are generally excellent and have been well received critically: I guess that’s what comes of being a folk musician here! A notable release was her 2011 album Don’t Stop Singing, which came about as Wikipedia describes:

In late 2010, Gilmore was commissioned by Sandy Denny’s estate, in conjunction with Island Records, to write melodies for unfinished manuscripts, lyrics without music, and works in progress and so to finally bring some of Denny’s last works to the world.

It’s a lovely record, and I commend it to you. And if these two songs have piqued your interest in the Christmas Sessions programme, you can find it here. It is hosted by the recently departed and much missed Paul Sartin, of Bellowhead, and is highly recommended (by me).

Today’s final song is one that I haven’t played before. In keeping with making today’s a ‘quirky’ set this is the one which I think best defines that. Some of the lyrics are reminiscent of the Tom Lehrer song I played on Day 13, but as far as I know Tom never had three pretty ladies to keep him company while he was singing:

I think Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq can safely be regarded as what we Brits call ‘a character.’ Unsurprisingly, Wikipedia doesn’t have a page for him, so information is a little hard to come by. He has been making witty music like this since 2016 and tours regularly, playing mainly smaller venues. He has his own website, which is here if you’d like to see more. Smile and Nod was released in 2020 on what the website calls ‘the difficult second album’ – it went by the title of A Quiet Night In, and this song was also released as a single. I haven’t bothered looking for chart entries, as somehow I don’t think there will be any!  I first came across him when he released a video for his best known song, I’ve No More F**ks To Give, which is still the only music video I know of which was shot in a small tailor’s shop – probably where he gets his outfits – with a very small audience (you can see two people, though you can hear others laughing). It now has over 12m views on YouTube, and is worth a look – here. The London Belles also have their own website, by the way: if you feel like booking a glamorous trio who sing a range of songs in swing style for your event this is where you’ll find them.

Quirky enough for you? Mission accomplished, I think. All that is left is my image for today which, as I’ll never, ever, play one of his songs, is my little homage to a vaguely well known English pop singer:

See you again tomorrow for another set of Christmas Carols. 🎉