I hadn’t previously heard of The Music Tag until just before Christmas, when I was tagged by Jim Adams, the man who does such a great job bringing us Song Lyric Sunday every week. You can read Jim’s post in which he nominated me here. He was in turn nominated by someone I don’t follow, so I think the link breaks here!

This is what we are supposed to do to take part:

• Write down ten songs, that come on shuffle (no skipping)
• Write down your favourite part(s) of the lyrics from each song (one or more, if desired)
• Tag other people of your choice

I accepted Jim’s invitation but told him that I would do it after all of the seasonal stuff was out of the way, and had planned it for last week until the sad passing of Chris Rea changed the programme for me. I’ve given this a fair amount of thought, but quickly came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be that easy to come up with something new: I mostly rely on YouTube and Apple Music and the majority of what I have been listening to has been for my recent blog posts, so I’d only end up repeating what you had recently seen. So I decided to get a bit creative with it – in other words, I’m rewriting the rules to suit myself. If that’s ok for the orange shitgibbon it can equally well apply to me, right?

So this is what I’m doing:

• seven songs (ten is too many for one post the way I’m doing it)
• my favourite part of their lyrics
• play the video for each song – just the lyrics would be ok, but would be lacking something, I think
• tag everyone who wants to try it (choosing amongst my blogging friends wouldn’t seem fair, somehow)

The seven songs I’m going with mostly have meaningful lyrics around love and loss, and I think they make a good set. Today is the third anniversary of my Dad’s passing and I’m in a reflective mood, and dedicate the post to his memory.

Six of the tunes fit into that category – the first is a real outlier, but I’ve loved the song since I bought the album 55 years ago.

Brinsley Schwarz – Rock And Roll Women

This is a track from their eponymous debut album, about life in a rock band. It is played for laughs, and my favourite line is about the taxman;

“The Queen sent me a letter, said you owe We some bread,

From playing in your rock and rolling band

The guy I went to see didn’t look much like the Queen to me,

Oh but he dug it when I bowed and kissed his hand”

And here’s the full song:

The Waterboys – How Long Will I Love You

“How long will I give to you?
As long as I live through you
However long you say
How long will I love you?
As long as stars are above you
And longer if I may”

A beautiful little song of love and devotion from their excellent Room To Roam album which has been covered (well) by Bellowhead and (appallingly badly) by Ellie Goulding. This is the original:

Leonard Cohen – If It Be Your Will

The late, great Leonard Cohen is, to my mind, the poet who should have received the Nobel Prize. Here he recites the lyrics, and the song is sung by the ‘sublime’ Webb Sisters (Leonard’s word):

Rod Stewart – Mandolin Wind

And this is my favourite version of the song, from Rod’s Unplugged album:

Nothing like his own life experience, but created from imagination and none the less beautiful for it – one of his own favourites.

Fleetwood Mac – Man Of The World 

This is a short song, so I’m sharing its full lyrics, as they are lovely:

Still one of my all time top two favourite songs, after all these years. This is why:

And the other one in my all time top two:

Love – Alone Again Or

Another short one, so you get the full lyrics again:

Just one more to go for today. What would you do if you had been given a diagnosis of terminal, untreatable cancer? If you were Warren Zevon you would gather up all of your friends from years of making music and make one final album. And you would close it with the most beautiful parting gift imaginable:

Warren Zevon – Keep Me In Your Heart

“Shadows are fallin’ and I’m runnin’ out of breath
Keep me in your heart for a while
If I leave you it doesn’t mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for a while…

Hold me in your thoughts
Take me to your dreams
Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes
Keep the fires lit
And I will be right next to you”

So, that’s my take on The Music Tag. I’ve no idea who started it, but I hope I haven’t strayed too far from their original intentions for the link. But it was more fun for me this way and, hopefully, for you too. And who wouldn’t want to take the chance to play some of their favourite songs?

If you want to play too, please consider yourself tagged. And I’ll see you again on Sunday 😊