We are a few days into April, which must mean that it is about time for me to do my review of last month on my blog. So here is a recap of what you endured or enjoyed from me in March. In all, there were thirteen occasions on which I landed in your inbox, so I have quite a bit to get through.

As always, I’ll start with the two main musical mainstays, Tuesday Tunes and Song Lyric Sunday. There were four Tuesdays and five Sundays last month, and I matched the numbers. The month’s Tuesday Tunes began with Tuesday Tunes 241: A Little More Love, which was the close to a three part series of themes I began in February. I played tunes by Bad Company, Dire Straits, Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, and The Darkness. One of my more mainstream weeks!

The following week I returned to a theme for which I had recently posted in the Writer’s Workshop: this resulted in Tuesday Tunes 242: Luck(y), in which you heard music by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Paul Brady, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Taylor Swift, and The Verve. Mostly mainstream!

I then went for a theme prompted by a song I had heard on YouTube, in Tuesday Tunes 243: Happiness. The one which planted that seed was by a band new to just about everyone – The Heavy Heavy – and I was pleased that you liked it. They were joined by Donovan, Emmylou Harris with Mark Knopfler, Taylor Swift (again), and The Beatles.

I rounded off the month by celebrating the five years in which I have been playing Tuesday Tunes. No surprises in the title – Tuesday Tunes 244: Fifth Anniversary – in which I played a set of six songs, three each for anniversary and five. The anniversary ones were all reprises of songs I had previous played for that theme, but I gave you some different ones for five. These came from Status Quo, Eva Cassidy, Mike Oldfield, The Hooters, Imelda May, and Cowboy Junkies.

For the first Song Lyric Sunday of the month, Jim had given us the task of playing a song which mentions our name. I didn’t have many from which I could choose but managed to come up with a couple for SLS: Old Clive Davis Said. As the title suggests, both of these were actually based on the music business legend Clive Davis, rather than me, but they worked for the theme! The tunes were by Aerosmith and The Grateful Dead, and I owe them both my thanks for digging me out of a hole!

The following week went in the opposite direction: a huge range of choices, as the theme was to play a song with ‘get’ or ‘over’ in its title. I gave you SLS: Overs, with a lead song by Miranda Lambert, followed up by Fleetwood Mac. I then couldn’t resist throwing in a bit of Freddie and the Dreamers to round things off.

We then went to one of the longest lists of theme words that Jim has given us in the nearly three years that I’ve been joining in with SLS, with his invitation to play a song that incorporated any, some or all of the words night, evening, dusk, twilight, day, sunrise, daybreak, dawn. Phew! For me this became SLS: The First Thing That I Heard, with a lead song by Joni Mitchell incorporating my title line. I followed that one up with tunes by Matchbox Twenty and Bob Seger, with his Silver Bullet Band. A selection I enjoyed.

Jim then marked World Meteorological Day by asking us to play a song relating to a number of weather conditions. I went for cold and wind, in Song Lyric Sunday: Let Me In, in which I led with an old favourite of mine, by Steeleye Span. the song was a traditional folk tune and, in the best traditions of the genre it has been recorded in several other versions. I added in two more, one by a fairly obscure Irish singer by the name of Betty Harrigan, the other by my favourite German pagan folk band, Faun.

For the final March Sunday we were asked to play a song that mentions doctor, cure, heal, treat or drugs. Another wide field, but I tried to steer clear of what I felt were obvious choices, and was pleasantly surprised to see that some I had considered were selected more than once, but my choices weren’t duplicated. In Song Lyric Sunday: Doctor! Doctor! I played tunes by Little Feat and Robert Palmer. I thought the second one of those might have been picked up by another participant, but it wasn’t!

That just leaves what I think of as my ‘midweek’ posts. There were four of these, the first of which saw the return of one of my occasional series in A Classic Album:4. The album in question was the fabulous Tea For The Tillerman, by Cat Stevens, as he was back in 1970 when it was first released. I love that album as much as I ever did, and was pleased that my feelings about it were shared by many others. A true classic, in my view.

I then brought back another of my occasional series. As my title Under The Covers Again – At Long Last! suggests, this one was very overdue to be seen again, as it was almost two years since the previous one. This is where I play cover versions that I like, and I went with six – for the most part by specialist covers bands, but with a closing treat. The covers bands I played were First To Eleven (covering Lady Gaga), The MonaLisa Twins (The Beatles), Boyce Avenue (Ed Sheeran), Foxes And Fossils (John Hiatt, via Suzy Bogguss), and Walk Off The Earth (Willie Nelson). The additional treat at the end was a return visit by Faun, singing in English this time, on a wonderful version of a Nick Drake song that I have loved for decades. they didn’t let me down!

My two other posts last month were both in response to prompts by John Holton for his Writer’s Workshop. The first of these was To Bee Or Not To Bee, my offering for his suggestion that we tell you about an allergic reaction we had suffered. I regaled you with the sorry tale of being stung by a bee when I was only 5 years old, which has left me scared of them for life. The allergic reaction wasn’t much fun either, but I tried to make light of the story for effect. And I even managed to squeeze in some music by Arthur Askey and Richard Thompson – an unlikely pairing on any playbill!

Last week I responded to another of John’s prompts, in which he asked us to tell you about the last sporting event that we attended. Sadly for me this was nearly ten years ago, as health issues have since prevented my attendance, but the last one was a good one, as I told you in 6-1. It is probably no surprise that this was the result of the game, in my team’s favour! If you want to share in the experience of football away from the riches and hype of the English Premier League, this was one of mine. They weren’t all as good as that one, though!

So that was my March. I hope you enjoyed them, and if there are any that you missed in there you only need to follow the links I have so helpfully provided. I always like to close these pieces with some music: I have often adapted a song title to use as a header, but I’m running out of ‘March’ songs that I like, so instead I’m going to give you a reprise of a favourite song that I played last month. Early on, I played The Darkness, and later shared a cover of an Ed Sheeran song. Both acts are from the English county of Suffolk, and got together for a one-off when Ed joined in one of their shows to play the song I shared last month. This is all about the joy of playing music:

I just love the way Ed seems so thrilled at becoming a rockstar, albeit briefly. That was on 9 December 2023, and I hope they do it again sometime.

That’s it for today. I’ll see you again for Song Lyric Sunday – it’s another of those ones with a huge range of choices, so do join me to see what I settled on – I have no idea yet what it will be!

Stay safe and warm 😊