Tuesday Tunes 176: More Birds

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As I still have quite a few birds songs on my list and you guys added several more last week, for which I’m very grateful, I thought I’d go round again with this theme. I’m actually playing six songs this week: the first one is a kind of joke, so I’m not counting it towards the weekly quota of five. My blog, my rules, OK? Let’s get started with that laugh, shall we:

Tom Lehrer is now 95, having had a long career as a lecturer in mathematics and musical theatre. He performed his own songs for a short while in the Fifties and Sixties, and it is a testimony to his originality that they are still well known today. This is very typical of them, and some of the lyrics in that, and the rhymes he creates, are nothing short of genius to my mind. I bet students flocked to his classes! I have been a fan of his ever since a schoolfriend’s dad introduced us to him from his collection of 78rpm records – remember them? Here is a Wikipedia link if you want to know more about him.

Now onto the meat of this week’s music. I’d forgotten about this one, but Pete suggested it in response to last week’s set, and made me realise I should have included it. So here it is:

I haven’t played Prince here as much as I might have done, so it’s good to include him again. This is the first time I’ve played When Doves Cry, which was released in May 1984 as the lead single from the Purple Rain album. The single spent five weeks at #1 in the US, also reached the top in Canada and Australia, and peaked at #4 in the UK. It sold more than 2m copies in the US in 1984, with a further 600k in the UK, and as that video has more than 96m views I think I’m on safe ground choosing it as a popular song to get us started today. Thanks for the reminder, Pete! The album, by the way, came out in June 1984, and reached #1 in the US, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands, and #7 in the UK, going on to sell more than 25m copies worldwide. I enjoyed the movie, too.

You may well know the cover of this next song which was done by James Taylor and Carly Simon, but this is the original and, to my ears, still the best version:

Inez and Charlie Foxx were a brother and sister act, and they wrote and released Mockingbird in 1963. It was a big success in the US, reaching #2 in the R&B Chart and #7 in the main singles chart in late summer of that year. Wikipedia is a little thin on detail for this one, but it doesn’t seem to have been a hit here in the UK at that time, which I find odd, as I’ve known the song since way back when. A search on the Official Charts Company website does, however, show that it spent five weeks in our chart in early 1969, peaking at #33 – something of a sleeper!

For this next one I’m playing a cover version. I love the original, but in this case I think this just beats it:

That is a Neil Young song, originally from his After The Gold Rush album, which was released in September 1970. It is a lovely album, and his version of his own song is terrific. Linda Ronstadt’s version of Birds was on her eponymous January 1972 album, and her beautiful voice is perfectly suited to such a delicate love song. Although it was a studio album three of the tracks were recorded live, including this one. Her backing band at the time was mostly comprised of guys who would very shortly leave her to start their own band: they were called the Eagles, and I wonder what happened to them? If you listen hard you can hear Randy Meisner and Don Henley amongst the backing vocals, while Glenn Frey played guitar. The album only charted at #163 in the US and #87 in Japan: it would be a further two years before she hit the big time.

Today’s two closing tracks are from the same band, sort of. Two very different incarnations! This is an instrumental, but is very evocative of the bird which gives it its title:

Albatross was the third hit single of 1968 for Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, and it was the one with which they hit the big time: so much so, in fact, that I didn’t need to buy the record – my Mum beat me to it. Talk about a crossover! That piece of simple beauty was released in November 1968 and climbed the UK charts, eventually reaching #1 in January 1969. Sadly, the US never ‘got’ this version of the band, but they were important here in the UK and two members retained their part of the name for the later one that we know as Fleetwood Mac. Speaking of whom…

Today’s final song is another beautiful gem:

Fleetwood Mac originally released Songbird on that behemoth of an album, Rumours, in February 1977, and it also featured as the B-side to the single release of Dreams the following month. I won’t go into much detail about the album, as I’ve said it all before: suffice it to say that it has sold more than 40m copies and is the ninth best-selling album of all time. Songbird became very much a live favourite, and as you can see from this video the band usually left the stage to Christine McVie, who closed the show with it. I love the way Mick Fleetwood returns to escort her off – one of those magic moments music gives us. For me, that is the ‘perfect’ way to close a performance, and it seems right that I finish today’s set of tunes with it. We lost Christine almost a year ago, on 30.11.22, and I didn’t do a tribute to her then as I was just getting into Christmas mode at the time. Rather belatedly, I offer this as her epitaph.

That’s all for this slightly bumper week of six songs. At least it is far too cold here for spending much time in the park, so the pigeons should be fairly safe for now. I’ll see you again soon, so until then I hope you have a great week 😊

44 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 176: More Birds”

  4. I had never heard the Linda Ronstadt tune or Albatross. Prince and Christine McVie (talk about two songs that are about as different as night and day) were my favorites.

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  5. Lehrer is staggeringly witty- ‘The Irish Ballad’ is killer. Christine was a favourite ever since I heard Chicken Shack.
    Another worthy selection. Did I mention ‘Tennessee Birdwalk’ by Jack Morgan/Misty Morgan as one to avoid? If not, avoid it!

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    • He is an incredibly clever lyricist. I have my school friend’s Dad to thank for introducing me to him, and I’ve never regretted it. I first heard Christine in Chicken Shack too, and thought she was going to become something special even then.

      You didn’t, but as I’ve never heard of either them or the song I’ll take your advice!

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  7. The only song I know is (you might be surprised… lol) When Doves Cry. I must have been too young for the others when they were released or never made it to my ear for other reasons. So, thanks to you, I got introduced to 4 new songs this evening!

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      • Clive, the book has been out for awhile and I got it in paperback…terrific story and interesting that she sang a lot of Neil Young – she opened for him on a tour once and one of Neil’s band members was unduly cruel to her for the entire tour and cornered her at the war party and was so overtly aggressive toward her she burst out crying and her band rushed over to save her form him….one of the stories she tells about being a woman in that world…

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      • I might treat myself to that. I have several unused credits on my Audible account but it seems it is no longer available there – would have been the easy option! A sad tale but probably very common, and still relevant today, too.

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  18. Great post Clive can hostly say ever song bought back great memories… Especially mockingbird… goodness knows where I was but I had a white crochet mini dress with bell sleeves, white knee length boots and my Cilla Black bob( blinde hair then) dancing in a dark club somewhere in London?
    Also poisoning pigeons in the park is very apt today… Hubby is furious with our pigeons as they are stealing all the sunflower hearts before the little birds can feed. …no worries he will not be poisoning any birds!
    💜💜💜

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