I promised you last week that I would be in celebratory mood for this week’s tunes, and what better way to do it than to mark my birthday, which falls very conveniently this year on a Tuesday – i.e. today, in case you hadn’t noticed. I did this last year, a day out, but I’m only recycling three of those tunes, one of which is in a different version. And as it is my special day I’m playing an extra one today, bringing the total to six.

I’m starting with the one from last year that is in a different version. Last time it was a live performance, this year it is the recorded take:

Drive-By Truckers are an American rock band based in Athens, Georgia. Two of the five current members (Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley) are originally from The Shoals region of northern Alabama and met as roommates at the University of North Alabama. The group also has roots in Richmond, Virginia. To my ears they are very much a southern rock band in the tradition of the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Little Feat. Those two guys started the band in 1996, and they have gone through several changes in membership since then, while developing a reputation as a live touring band and building a sizeable following. Birthday Boy is a track on their eighth album, The Big To-Do, which was released in March 2010, peaking at #22 in the US and #61 in the UK, though it made #1 on the US Indie Albums chart. In all their time they have only ever had one female member, bass player Shonna Tucker, who was in the band from 2003 to 2011 and played on this album. They have made some great records, all of which are in my iTunes library, and this is typical of the wit they bring to their songs. A favourite of mine.

In a fit of wishful thinking, this is my next tune, which is from American Bandstand and is led in by a guy who wouldn’t get away with this today:

That is Neil Sedaka, of course, with Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, played especially for myself as I celebrate my sixteenth birthday – for the fifty-sixth time. This was a single from November 1961 that reached #6 in the US and #3 in the UK. It wasn’t on an album at the time, but subsequently appeared on the compilation album Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits, which was released in 1963 but doesn’t appear to have dented the charts. It’s still a great reminder, though, of the days when guys could get away with singing songs like this that were ostensibly about their little sister, and tv presenters could ogle girls’ legs!

Maisie Peters began her recording career in 2017 by releasing two singles as an independent artist. Birthday was the second of these, in November 2017, but like its predecessor it didn’t make the charts. She has since had some success in the singles charts but her real niche is albums. To date she has released two, You Signed Up For This, in August 2021, which got to #2 in the UK and The Good Witch, in June 2023, which became a UK #1. I have both in my Apple Music library and they are very good – but then I always was an easy touch for a female singer-songwriter, wasn’t I! Maisie has said that she is a big fan of Taylor Swift, who has influenced her songwriting, and I think that shows. About this track she says “The video is meant to be a kind of visual representation of the song; I wanted to get across the warmth of the melody and what is meant to be the perfect birthday feeling contrasted with that utter empty feeling of disappointment (which is ultimately the theme of the song), and I’m so so happy with the result! Big thanks to everyone at Electric Light Studios for making it; they took all my ideas and made them a million times better so thank u thank u thank u.” Isn’t that sweet? She was only 17 when this was released, and her youthful joy in making music shines through that, doesn’t it.

I haven’t played this next band as much as I should, considering that I have all of their albums, going back to the days when I bought actual physical copies of them. They are always a fun listen:

That was The Levellers with Happy Birthday Revolution, a track on their September 2000 album Hello Pig. It was their sixth record, but unlike their previous ones it didn’t do all that well in chart terms, only reaching #28 in the UK and not making any European charts, as they usually did. They are an outfit who have always caused problems for those critics who like to put bands in convenient boxes, as they have elements of folk, ‘anarcho-punk’ and rock about them, with a strong political stance in many of their songs, like this one. And where do you think they got their name from! The band started out in Brighton in 1988, and has been through several lineup changes since then, though three of them have been constant members from the start: Mark Chadwick, guitarist, lead vocalist and main songwriter, John Sevink on fiddle, and Charlie Heather on drums. I’ve always enjoyed their music, and spent many hours on the long commute home from work singing along to their songs at the top of my voice.

I’ve played a song by this next guy a couple of times in my Christmas selections, but he does a birthday one too:

As the clip showed, that was Si Cranstoun  with his own song, Happy Birthday. Si is an interesting character. Having been introduced to the music by his father he was for many years in ska and fifties revival bands – including The Dualers, with his brother Tyber – and had been a busker too, for twenty years before getting his first record deal a few years back. He has since made several albums of fifties-influenced songs, and his sheer exuberance deserves to win him a bigger audience – I hope he finds it, because his music is so much more fun than the dross we get on the radio nowadays! To get around the copyright restrictions I am playing the audio only version of this song but there are a number of videos of him on YouTube performing live, including some from his busking days, so do check him out if you enjoyed this one. You won’t regret it: he is fun. Chris Evans, the radio DJ, described his music as “A squeeze of the Bee Gees, a bit of Billy Joel, a dash of Dean Friedman, and a ripple of Rodriguez.” Sounds fair to me!

I’m closing today with one that I have played as an opening track before. For someone of my generation this one just has to be part of the set, doesn’t it:

As I’m sure you know, that was The Beatles with Birthday. This isn’t an official video and the audio isn’t great, but it has some nice images, and gets me round copyright issues too. The track was on the record The Beatles, known by most as The White Album, which was the band’s ninth studio album, released in November 1968: conveniently for me as it went on my Christmas present list, and I wasn’t disappointed. It is a double album, with a huge variety of styles across its thirty tracks. This was the one that opened side three (vinyl albums only in those days), and was co-written by Paul and John – something which was becoming a bit unusual for them, as they had tended to write on their own for some time, despite their songs always being credited as ‘Lennon/McCartney’ compositions. The album topped the charts in many countries, including both the UK and the US, and is still a favourite of mine to this day. It was also the album which brought to a head the simmering differences between the band members, and Ringo even left the band during recording, though he was brought back into the fold after a fortnight. As history shows, those tensions finally broke up The Beatles in 1970, but we still have their wonderful catalogue of music to enjoy – and I do!

That’s all for today. I’m off to enjoy the goodies my lovely daughters have given me for today. Have a good day yourself, and I’ll see you again soon 😊