Well, here’s something I haven’t done for a while. The last time I gave you one of my monthly reviews was at the end of October, since when they have been rather overtaken by the rest of the blog. But it’s a new year, so I may as well start it as I intend to go on: welcome to my look back at what happened here in January.

In total, there were twelve posts here last month, all but one of which were music-related. Some things never change, do they! I got the month going with my traditional start to the year, with New Year’s Day In Song. This featured music by ABBA, Van Morrison, Gretchen Peters, Mary Chapin Carpenter, U2, Mindy Smith, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. I always enjoy my musical New Year!

As New Year’s Day fell on a Monday it felt a little OTT to post the next day too, so I gave Tuesday Tunes a miss for that week. There were still four posts in the series, though, beginning with Tuesday Tunes 181: Courage which featured Mumford And Sons, Imagine Dragons, R.E.M., Argent, and OneRepublic.

This led into a second post on that theme, with Tuesday Tunes 182: Courage And Encouragement, in which I expanded the range a little. The songs were by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Journey, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Rod Stewart, and Fun.

A couple of the comments on that one picked up on the Bob Marley track – Get Up, Stand Up – and suggested other songs with ‘stand’ in their title. Never the one to refuse a useful gift I then made this the theme for the two remaining Tuesdays in the month. The first of these was Tuesday Tunes 182: Stand, which created a first for me: I couldn’t count! The music was fine, though, coming from The Rolling Stones, The Police, Ben E. King, Steve Earle, and The Beatles.

I then closed the month by getting my numerical order back in sequence with Tuesday Tunes 184: Still Standing, which contained the obvious starter, by Elton John, plus other tunes by The Four Tops, Bruce Springsteen, The Pretenders, and Elvis Costello & The Attractions. Not a bad month, in all, and I have already started planning February’s offerings in the series, which will begin with #185 – unless I cock it up again.

My other regular posts are for Song Lyric Sunday, and there were also four of these during January. The first was Song Lyric Sunday: She Knew How To Get Her Kicks, which was for the theme of clothing accessories. I led the post with Prince’s Raspberry Beret and also played my favourite version of Handbags And Gladrags, by Rod Stewart.

For the following week the theme was to play music by someone from the Scandinavian countries, which gave me Song Lyric Sunday: Scandi Time, in which I led with a cracker from The Cardigans (Sweden), and then played a couple of very different pieces by Steve ‘N’ Seagulls (Finland) and The Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra (Norway).

A song about mental health was the theme chosen for the next week. I’ve written about this a lot, but for me there was only one song I could play, in Song Lyric Sunday: Mad As A Hatter. For this I reworked a piece I originally wrote a couple of years ago, which featured a song by Larkin Poe about their grandfather’s experience with dementia. It is a harrowing song, made all the more powerful by being written from their personal experience.

The final theme for the month was to play a song about a profession. I played three for this, taking minister/preacher as my ‘job,’ in Song Lyric Sunday: Being Good Isn’t Always Easy, a line from the lead song by Dusty Springfield. I then veered off into a parody of tv evangelists – a superb song and video by The Hooters – and closed with a more spiritual song by The Strawbs. Variety is the spice of life, so they say!

There were two further musical posts last month. The first of these was Musical Joy, which was about the fabulous Pub Choir, an initiative founded in Australia back in 2017 by Astrid Jorgensen, which she has since taken to New Zealand, the US and the UK. It really shows the joy that comes from taking part in musical events – if you haven’t seen it, do take a look, and be prepared to be uplifted.

The other musical post was by way of being my tribute to the late Shane MacGowan, who passed away on 30 November. I did this as Listen To The Band: The Pogues, as this felt an appropriate way for me to revisit some of Shane’s musical legacy. Again, if you haven’t seen it, it is worth a visit, even if just to see a different version of Fairytale Of New York from the one with which you are probably familiar.

That just leaves one post to remind you about. I didn’t do a monthly review, but an annual one instead, in So, Last Year. This was a ramble through some of what I wrote about in 2023. To be honest, I wasn’t sure about doing this but I’m glad I did, as it turned out to be one of the most liked and commented posts of the month. Maybe I should do more that isn’t music! Only joking – the mainstay isn’t going anywhere, but it is good to change things around occasionally.

As is my habit, I’m closing this piece with a song that reflects the title. January isn’t a month which seems to have inspired many musicians, so the pickings are fairly slim, but I did manage to dredge this one up from the depths of my collection:

January was only ever an album track, which is why I’ve had to go with the audio-only clip. As that shows, it was on Elton John’s twenty-fifth album, The Big Picture, which was released in September 1997. In my view, most of his best work was behind him by then, but this song does, I think, show that he could still give us some good ones if we knew where to look. The album peaked at #3 in the UK and #9 in the US, and whilst it is some way from being his most successful it has still sold enough copies to have been awarded Platinum Disc status in both of those countries and in several others.

That seems to be a good place at which to leave you for today. I’ll be back for Song Lyric Sunday, and hope to see you again then. I just need to choose a song to play! Stay safe and well 😊