As I get older – I’m 71 – I’ve come to the conclusion that time is moving faster than it has ever done before. How else can I explain that it feels like yesterday that I was posting some tunes for New Year’s Day and we are already at the end of the month? But the calendar doesn’t lie – though if Trump did a calendar I’m sure his would – so it must be time for me to do the first of this year’s monthly reviews.

I have posted thirteen times in January, not counting this one, so there is a fair bit for me to cover. I’ve already referenced the first one, Songs For New Year’s Day, which did exactly what it said on the tin. I gave you a set of tried and tested favourites of mine, with music by ABBA, Gretchen Peters, U2, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Foo Fighters, and Mindy Smith, rounded off with my usual bonus video of the Vienna Philharmonic playing the Radetzky March in their annual concert. I’m a man for his own traditions!

I followed that up a couple of days later with As Time Goes By, my look back at my blogging year in 2024. I remarked on it having been a good year for me in numbers and reminded you of some of my favourite posts from it. I even managed to squeeze in a couple of tunes, Dooley Smith from the Casablanca movie (with Frank Sinatra getting in on the act too), and one from the post I did of Lewis Capaldi songs which had been given new videos to highlight some good people doing good things (to borrow Jill‘s phrase).

As ever, I played a lot of music last month, including my contributions to my two regulars. Starting off with my Tuesday Tunes series, there were four of these, beginning with Tuesday Tunes 233: Silver, which unsurprisingly featured songs with silver in their titles. These came from Hawkwind, Rilo Kiley, First Aid Kit, Neil Young, and Linda Ronstadt.

Next came an edited reissue of the piece I shared as a tribute for my Dad after he passed away a couple of years ago: Tuesday Tunes 234: For Dad A Reprise, in which I played some tunes about fathers and a couple that he liked too. These came from Marc Cohn, Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton, The Webb Sisters, Harry Chapin, Barenboim playing Beethoven, Mary Black from The Transatlantic Sessions, Luther Vandross, and Mike + The Mechanics. It was a bigger set than usual, but Dad was worth it.

Never one to ditch a good theme after just one outing, I then went with Tuesday Tunes 235: Some More Silver. This time the tunes were by The Fisherman’s Friends with Imelda May, Fleetwood Mac, Dr Hook and the Medicine Show, Sandy Denny, and Bad Company.

To close January I started a new theme, which I think will be repeated. This was Tuesday Tunes 236: Your You’re, in which I followed my inner pedant to give you some songs with either of those words in their title. The idea came to me when I was reading a very moving article by Taylor Goldsmith of the band Dawes, about the terrible impact wreaked on his family and so many others by the wildfires in Los Angeles – I linked to that in my post if you haven’t seen it. My favourite of their songs closed the set, with other tunes coming from Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, The Beach Boys, and Sugar. The Fleetwood Mac one was an interesting counterpoint to the one I played the previous week: the two sides of the story on the break up of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

There were also four posts this month for Song Lyric Sunday, beginning with SLS: Happy Birthday For The 27th. The theme was to play a song by someone born in January, and I think Jim could get some mileage out of doing this for every month. My chosen birthday gal was Margo Timmins of The Cowboy Junkies – any excuse to play something by her is gratefully accepted! I played three of their songs, all of which I love to bits.

We were then invited to play a song with ‘work’ or hard in its lyrics, for which I gave you SLS: You Couldn’t Even Hold A Job, featuring a song by the wonderful English folk singer-songwriter, Martin Simpson. This seemed to strike a chord with many, judging from the comments. I’ve seen him play the song – Never Any Good – in concert, and knowing that it is about his father makes for a very moving experience.

Next up was the task of playing something by a forgotten band. I went for Brinsley Schwarz, who were around for four years in the early 70s, in SLS: Still Shining Brightly. I played three of their songs, all written by Nick Lowe before he went on to bigger things. They brought back happy memories for me.

For the final one of the month we were asked to play a song that mentions a bell, buzzer, chime, gong, horn, siren, or whistle. I went with SLS: Bells And Whistles, leading with a song by a largely unknown American singer-songwriter, Kyler England, to showcase her lovely voice, and then played a bit of AC/DC. Why not?

That just leaves three of last month’s offerings. Two of these were written for John Holton’s Writer’s Workshop, the first of which was Starman. The prompt was to answer the question of whether we believed in life on other planets: I went with a favourite David Bowie song, though a couple of his others would have been equally good choices.

The other one that I attempted was to meet the prompt “Share links to 5-10 of your favourite non-political YouTube videos from this past week.” As no-brainers go this was right up there, and I gave you a selection of music, comedy and a little bit of football in What I’ve Been Watching. Mostly music, if I’m honest, but it was a fun collection for me to put together. The tunes were from The Darkness, Hildegard Von Blingin’, The Fisherman’s Friends, The Bygones (a new find for me), and Oysterband, one of my all time favourites. The comedy came from the tv show 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, and the football was courtesy of Leyton Orient, who are on an amazing run of results at present: nine wins and two draws in the past eleven league games, up from 21st to 6th in the table. It will probably all go pear-shaped at some point, but it is fun while it lasts.

That just leaves one more. This was one of those sad ones in which I mark the passing of a favourite musician with my own tribute. In this case it was R.I.P. Garth, for Garth Hudson, the last member of the original lineup of The Band to leave us. These aren’t my favourite pieces, but I do like to look back at the careers of artists who have made a mark on my musical listening down the years.

So that was January here on my blog. I always like to close with a tune, and considered going with one that has this month in its title, but many of the ones I know aren’t all that cheerful. So instead I’m closing with my new find, The Bygones:

If you want to know a little more about them, I gave you some background in the post when I first played that. I’m hoping to hear more from them in the future, as they have a lovely sound.

That’s it for today. See you again on Sunday, I hope 😊