I said last week that I would probably be using the same theme again, and that is what I’m doing today, with a small difference: I am expanding it to include both courage and encouragement, as they often go together in songs and I wanted to do them both justice. I’ve played some of today’s selection before, but there are a couple of new ones for me too. Let’s get started, shall we?

Today’s first song is one that has been the focus of a post for Song Lyric Sunday, but I don’t think I’ve played it before in this series:

That is such a great song, and Tom Petty assembled a pretty good backing band for it! It was on what was officially his debut solo album, Full Moon Fever, released in April 1989, though members of the Heartbreakers played on several tracks, particularly Mike Campbell, who you saw playing guitar in the video. The album was #3 in the US and #8 here, and has sold over 6m copies. Five of its tracks were released as singles: this was the first, which came out at the same time as the album, and it peaked at #12 in the US and #28 here. If you’ve seen my posts before you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of his music. I’ve mentioned before that this song has become a tradition at Florida Gators football games at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Tom’s hometown. Shortly after his sudden death the Gators had a home game and this was played between the third and fourth quarters, after the traditional university song We Are The Boys From Old Florida. It has been played at that time at every subsequent home game, with fans singing along and holding up their mobile phones to fill the stadium with lights. It’s good to see that he is still important to people.

This next one is the only song by this band that I have ever played, but as that was nearly three years ago I don’t think I can be accused of over-playing them! The message is a good one for today’s theme:

That was Journey, with a superb live performance of Don’t Stop Believing, from back in the day. This was a track on their seventh album, Escape, released in July 1981. It was a US #1 that year and made #32 here in the UK in 1982. This was also a hit single in the US, where it got to #9, but only made #62 here on its original release. It has, however, had an extended lifespan here, as it has also been a chart single in 2007 (#97), 2008 (#93), 2009 (#71), 2010 (#6, after a copy by the Glee cast was a hit), 2011 (#74), 2012 (#88), and 2013 (#44). That spell which began in 2010 lasted for more than a year, and contributed 66 of the 95 weeks that the song has spent in the UK singles charts. I think the reason I’m including it is fairly apparent, though: if we don’t have belief in ourself, what chance do we have at achieving anything? But sometimes our confidence needs that boost and a reminder.

This next tune is one of the new ones for today. It is very much a political song but I’m playing it for its message of encouragement to stand up for what you believe in:

Get Up, Stand Up was the opening track on Bob Marley and the Wailers album Burnin’, which was released in October 1973. The only chart placing Wikipedia records for it is #151 in the US: their chart success didn’t really start until their next album, Natty Dread,  which also brought them a big hit single with No Woman No Cry. This one is considered one of Bob Marley’s greatest songs: in 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it number one on their list of the 50 greatest Bob Marley songs, while The Guardian ranked it number two on their list of his 30 greatest. It was frequently performed at his concerts and was the last song he ever performed on stage, in September 1980 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He died from cancer in May 1981 at the ridiculously early age of just 36.

I’ve played this next one once before, way back in August 2020. Although I prefer Rod Stewart’s early records, this one struck a chord, as it came out just two years after my first daughter was born:

From its title you could be forgiven for thinking that Forever Young is a Bob Dylan song. It is, in part. Rod borrowed a lot from Bob’s song in writing his own, and asked Bob for permission to use his words. They agreed on a co-writing credit and a 50/50 share of the royalties from Rod’s song. That sounds like a good compromise to me – it avoided the long legal wrangles that other songwriters have found themselves in. The song is included on Rod’s 15th studio album, Out Of Order, released in May 1988, which peaked at #11 in the UK and #20 in the US – though it did make #1 in Sweden! The track was the second single released from the album, in July 1988, though it only reached #57 in the UK and #12 in the US: I think it deserved better. The video is lovely, and beautifully suited to a song about wishing the best for a youngster, and encouraging them to be brave in what they do. The little boy isn’t Rod’s own son, Sean, though: he is Alex Zuckerman, who was 5 when the video was filmed and had a career as a child actor, appearing in the movie Hook amongst others.

I’m closing today with a bit of an outlier. This one is actually about regrets of not having been brave when that was needed, and how that can leave us feeling in some way incomplete:

Fun. (their full stop, not mine) released Some Nights, their second album, in February 2012, and this title track became the second single from it in June of that year. The album reached #3 in the US and #4 in the UK and has sold more than 4m copies worldwide. The single also reached #3 in the US, and peaked at #7 in the UK, though it did get to #1 in both Australia and New Zealand. To date, it has sold well over 8m copies, 7m of those in the US alone. Fun. have to date been short-lived: having won two Grammy Awards in 2013 they did a collaboration with Queen, and then announced they were going on hiatus to pursue other projects. They have yet to return! That doesn’t stop this being a great song and video, though, and it makes its point: if we don’t have the courage of our convictions, we may well end up paying a heavy price for that.

That’s all for today, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the tunes. I’ll see you again in a couple of days and then again for Song Lyric Sunday. Until then, stay warm and safe – it’s cold out there! ❄️