I promised you a second set of songs to mark New Year’s Day, and the actual day itself seems as good a time as any for them. As before, I have relied heavily on what I have played in previous years: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! There are six tunes today, plus a bonus video at the end.

I’m starting with one which is always an obvious choice, and which I have played several times before, but I’m going with it it nonetheless:

ABBA released Happy New Year on the album Super Trouper in November 1980, just in time for me to buy it for my now ex-wife for Christmas. I wouldn’t have claimed to be an ABBA fan – that was her job – but I have to admit that they made some fine records. The album reached #1 in the UK, Sweden, and three other countries, and made the top ten in another seven. It got as high as #17 in the US where, for some reason, the band were never as successful as elsewhere, though chart placings like that still meant massive sales. It was eventually released as a single, but not until 1999 as a trailer for a compilation album, and only reached #34 in their native Sweden. This lyric video is relatively new, though: it was released in late 2022 and included an enhanced version of the original video. Some find this a depressing song, but I disagree: I think that the two people involved are looking ahead and not wanting to make the same mistakes again: a good place from which to begin a new year.

In rather different style, a piece of sheer talent:

For me, Van Morrison just oozes class and style, and I absolutely love this song and performance. I have played this twice before, in 2019 and last year, and I said exactly the same thing about it both times: no coincidence! It first appeared on Van’s album Magic Time, released in May 2005, peaking at #3 in the UK Albums chart and at #25 in the US. This track was released as a single but wasn’t a hit – not really chart material, I think.

I’m following the same pattern as last year, when I played a song written by Gretchen Peters in my first selection and felt it right to include one that she both wrote and performed in my second set. Here goes:

That is an achingly beautiful song about love, loss, and the promises that we make as New Year resolutions, but rarely keep. Like everything Gretchen does it matches a lovely tune to intelligent words, and that is why I’m such a fan of hers. This was one of two tracks on a September 2019 single release called The Need To Know Vinyl Session, which was obviously such a big deal that her Wikipedia entry has no mention of it. It’s a safe bet that it wasn’t a chart hit, I think.

It wouldn’t be one of my posts if, across two selections, I didn’t include Mary Chapin Carpenter. I am a huge fan of hers, for the same reasons I like Gretchen Peters, and it will be no surprise to you that I’ve played this one previously:

For several years I had given you the ‘official’ video of this from her record company, which has slightly clearer audio than this live version. But this video of MCC performing the song includes her explanation of its background, and I decided to go with it a couple of years ago and to play it again now: the track is based on a dream about a meeting with a friend, which she noted down and turned into the most beautiful song. As she says, “We dwell on possibility on New Year’s Day.”

The song originally featured on MCC’s album Ashes And Roses, released in June 2012, reaching #26 in the UK and #72 in the US. Like everything she does, it is a beautiful record, and comes highly recommended by me.

This next one is another obvious choice, but it’s a great song:

I was trying to think of what to say about U2 and this one. I looked back to the first time I played it, and I think I said it all then: “That was the lead single from U2’s third album, War. It was released in January 1983, a month ahead of the album: the single reached #10 in the UK and #53 in the US, the album was #1 in the UK and #12 in the US, and has to date sold more than 11m copies. The power of this song, which refers to the Solidarity movement in Poland, still gets me whenever I listen to it. Maybe it is just me, but I thought U2 were far better in their earlier days, before Bono began to believe his own publicity and disappeared up his own fundament.” I stand by that!

In comments on my first set of tunes a couple of you mentioned this standard traditional New Year song. I have played my favourite recording of it on several occasions, so with absolutely no apologies for playing the same version again, here it is:

You may well remember Mindy Smith from my Advent Countdown. I can never get enough of her beautiful voice, though, and this is so lovely. For the video to accompany her version of the song she asked fans to send her photos of those they loved or had lost, or maybe both. The resulting collage is absolutely wonderful, and is made even better if you watch it on YouTube and see the heartfelt comments from people whose photos were featured. This really does capture the end of year reflective mood so very well.

I promised you a bonus video, didn’t I. It has become my usual custom to give you an encore which is a reminder of my childhood. One of my earliest memories of New Year’s Day is the televised concert of Strauss family music from Vienna, which my late Mum loved and we watched with her and Dad, along with the ski jumping from Garmisch-Partenkirchen which followed it. These were both rare treats in the late 1950s/early 1960s, when daytime TV was still a novelty and before wall to wall TV took over. The closing delight of the concert was always the final encore, the Radetzky March, during which the conductor would turn to the audience and conduct their hand-clapping. This has always seemed to me to be the epitome of the joy and hopefulness that the start of a new year can bring, and I think it is a suitable way to bring my compilations of New Year music to a close. I’ve given you various versions of this over the years – this one is from 2014, with the incomparable Daniel Barenboim:

Time for me to take my leave of you for today. Now that the BBC is televising the whole concert from Vienna, rather than just the second half, as they used to do, I now have two whole hours and more of it! This always brings back so many happy childhood memories for me of lovely times with my parents: Mum, who passed in 2008, and Dad, who sadly left us on 15 January 2023. My joy in the music is tinged with much sadness today.

As I don’t usually post three days in a row, there won’t be a Tuesday Tunes tomorrow, though I expect to be back later in the week to fit something into the gap up to next week’s Song Lyric Sunday. For now, I wish you a Happy New Year. May it be a peaceful one.