As befits the shortest month, it feels like February has only just begun and here we are on the last day of the month. Time to look back at my February posts: this will be the twelfth, so this will mirror the month in being a shorter review than usual, you’ll be pleased to hear.

As is my wont I stuck to the regular format, i.e. almost entirely composed of music. That includes four posts each for the usual suspects, plus three more that somehow sneaked in there too. Let’s get going with a look back at Tuesday Tunes.

The first of these was Tuesday Tunes 237: You’re More, in which I rounded off a two post series of grammar lessons featuring songs with your and you’re in their titles. The music came from Carly Simon, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Cars, Shania Twain with Paula Fernandes, and Queen.

I then went back to the original thought behind those, by returning to a theme I played three times last autumn. This became Tuesday Tunes 238: You Is Back, which of course, like the previous ones, was a set of songs with you in their titles. The music was by Yazoo, The Beatles, Brewer & Shipley, First To Eleven (a Taylor Swift cover), and I closed with an absolutely gorgeous song from a new album by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart, which comes highly recommended by me. I just wish I was able to get out to one of the concerts they are playing here in March: it should be a beautiful evening.

For the other two posts in the month I went with what is probably the easiest theme for which to find songs: love. The first of these was simply called Tuesday Tunes 239: Love, and included songs by The Beatles (again!), Kat Parsons, Joan Armatrading, Elton John, and Paul Young, and out of the kindness of my heart I also dropped in a bonus of a song I had played on the Sunday by Gabrielle Aplin. Funny fact: when I came to write this I found that two of the videos I used were no longer available, so I had to replace them. I might expect that from older posts but, ten days ago?!

The final Tuesday saw Tuesday Tunes 240: Sharing More Love, the second set of what as one commenter remarked could be a very long series! The tunes were by Cream, Caravan, Free, 10cc and Love Affair, and at least those videos have survived the three days since Tuesday!

For the first Song Lyric Sunday of the month we were invited to play a song about being stuck, feeling trapped, or about regret. I had decided on a couple of tunes for this, but then on the preceding Thursday the sad news broke of the passing of Marianne Faithfull so I devoted the piece as a tribute to her. I played four songs which fit the theme, in SLS: Forever Faithfull. A sad one to write, but her voice was always a delight to hear, even as it changed over the years.

The next theme we were given was to play a song by a band that got back together for a reunion. I went with what I thought was an obvious choice, in SLS: Been A Long Time, and was mildly surprised to find that no one else went down that route. The band, of course, was led Zeppelin, and I played four tracks from their reunion concert in December 2007, with Jason Bonham taking on his late father’s role on the drums.

We then went to playing a cover of a song which we thought was better than the original. Despite the fact that my choice had been a UK #1 single it seemed fairly obscure to most: I played Gabrielle Aplin’s lovely cover of The Power Of Love, originally by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, in SLS: Make Love Your Goal. Gabrielle’s version had been used as the backing music for the John Lewis Christmas ad in 2012, so I also played that, and gave you a bonus of another of her songs (the one I also added in to a Tuesday post, as I rather like it, and she has a beautiful voice).

The closing Sunday in February saw us playing songs which had been the title for a movie. Again I went with what I thought would be an obvious choice, and again no one else went for it. I think that proves how varied our musical tastes can be, and is one of the reasons why I enjoy SLS so much. My choice was in SLS: The River Flows, which you might just recognise as being the opening words to the song The Ballad Of Easy Rider, by The Byrds. That was, of course, a reference to the classic movie Easy Rider, and the song featured in it. As a counterpoint to it I also played another song by Brewer & Shipley, Rise Up (Easy Rider): it dates from the same year as the movie, 1969, and I’ve never been entirely sure if that was by coincidence or design. But it was a good excuse to share their lovely harmony vocals again.

That just leaves my three midweek posts, the first of which was Friday Funnies 10: At The Movies. That did exactly what it said on the tin: it was a selection of clips from movies that make me laugh, coming from Team America: World Police, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Blazing Saddles, Four Weddings And A Funeral, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Airplane, and I closed with THAT scene from the first Wayne’s World movie. Lots of fun to be had there, and a good way to brighten up a dull winter’s day.

The next week saw something rather different, in A Special Centenary: A Reprise. This was an edited reworking of a post I first wrote four years ago to mark what would have been my Mum’s 100th birthday, had she lived to see the day. It somehow just felt right to share it again for the many who have joined me since then and wouldn’t have seen it before. The piece is a mix of clips from 1921, the year Mum was born, plus a couple of tunes that she loved, and it is to me a fascinating look back at earlier times, when movie making was in its infancy.

Last week’s midweek offering was one I wrote for John Holton’s Writer’s Workshop. I say ‘wrote’ advisedly: it was more a typical music post of mine! The prompt I followed was to write about luck, and I did it by playing some tunes with variants of luck in their titles. Few brain cells were destroyed in the making of that, and even fewer in my choice of title: I just called it Luck! The music was by Oysterband, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, and Emerson Lake and Palmer.

So that was my February. If I can, I like to find a song which features the month to use as my title for these reviews but there isn’t much on offer that I like for February, so I’m going to close by revisiting something I could have played this month. As it didn’t fit the SLS movie theme I didn’t play the most famous song from Easy Rider, so I’m playing it now. Like the one I did play this is a montage of clips from the movie accompanied by the song: this is one which I have played several times before and have built posts around, but I never tire of hearing it. A true rock classic to close with:

See you again next month?