Even though you might not have the slightest interest in football – you may be weird, but I guess that’s your choice! – it can hardly have escaped your notice that the World Cup is currently in full swing. I have been following these four-yearly bonanzas since 1962, but never before has there been one which attracted so much controversy. Even last time out, in 2018 when Russia hosted the tournament despite international opprobrium following their annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine, there has been nothing to match this one. It is being held in Qatar, that well-known bastion of international football, and home to some of the most repressive offences against human rights anywhere in the world. Add to that the fact that it is taking place in what for many countries is the middle of our season and you can see why it has been controversial. Today I am choosing for my theme my little piece of recognition of those who are oppressed in that country: no one should be at risk of being put to death by their government on account of their sexuality. The symbol of support for LGBTQ rights is the rainbow, and this week’s songs all relate to that. One is from the band which obligingly took that as their name, the others follow my usual pattern of finding the theme word in their title.

Let’s get the party started with the band, shall we:

Rainbow were the first band formed by Ritchie Blackmore after he left Deep Purple, and before his current incarnation with his wife Candice in Blackmore’s Night. Since You Been Gone was a track on their fourth album, Down To Earth, which was released in August 1979: this track gave them their big chart breakthrough, though they hadn’t done badly up to that point. The album got to #6 in the UK and #66 in the US, while the single of this track also reached #6 in the UK, and got to #57 in the US. It was the only album the band made with Graham Bonnet on lead vocals, with that distinctive voice of his which was so suited to rock bands. It stamps everything he does, going right back to his early days in a duo called The Marbles, who had a big hit (#5) in the UK in 1968 with Only One Woman. This song is a real piece of Classic Rock: we have a touring band here in the UK called The Classic Rock Show, and this is part of their repertoire, as you can see here – pretty impressive, I think! I wish I could still go to gigs, as theirs look like a lot of fun.

I’d guess that the first song that might come to mind for many when you think of the word rainbow is this one:

Another classic rock song! The Rolling Stones released She’s A Rainbow in December 1967 as a track on their sixth album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, which reached #3 in the UK and #2 in the US. Wikipedia shows the song as having been released as a single at the same time, peaking at #25 in the US but not making the UK chart. I find that surprising, and wonder if maybe it wasn’t actually released as a single here, as the band had already had four UK top ten singles that year and I’d have thought this would have done the same. If only my memory stretched that far back!I love this more recent lyric video, which is a great fit for the Stones’ psychedelic leanings of that time – which they soon abandoned and went back to being a straightforward rock band, as their next single showed: it was Jumping’ Jack Flash, which you may remember (a UK #1).

This next one is also a lyric video, but the song is much more recent:

Chasing Rainbows was a single by John Mellencamp in December 2021, ahead of its inclusion on his most recent album (his 24th!) Strictly A One-Eyed Jack, which came out in January 2022. The single didn’t make the charts, and the album only got to #196 in the US, though it did make #5 on their Folk Music listings and was #30 on their Top Rock Albums chart. As you have probably noticed before I am a big fan of his and this latest album is great, like everything he does. The song’s message, that money does not lead to happiness and its advice that people should recognise their blessings, is a good one, albeit different from why I have chosen this theme. It’s a lovely song and video, in my view.

A song which is a great fit for today’s theme is this one:

If you thought John Mellencamp’s tally of 24 albums was impressive, how about this: Colorado, the album which included Rainbow of Colours, was Neil Young’s 39th, and there have been two more since this one came out in October 2019. It peaked at #17 in the UK and #46 in the US, but this song didn’t make the singles charts. Neil Young is Canadian but has always been outspoken on matters relating to his US neighbours. As opening verses go they don’t come much more powerful and blunt than this, do they:

There’s a rainbow of colors
In the old USA
No one’s gonna whitewash
Those colors away

It’s a pity that so many in the US, in this country and elsewhere need to be reminded of that.

I’m going back to the UK charts of the Sixties for my next two tunes, which may well mean that these aren’t familiar to many outside these shores, and probably a good few here too! This first one is a real curio of its time:

Nirvana formed in 1965, and were known as a psychedelic pop and baroque pop band. They were unusual, even in their heyday, but they made some interesting records and had a little bit of chart success here in the UK. Rainbow Chaser was their third single, released in March 1968, and was their best performer, reaching the lofty heights of #34 in our Singles chart. It was the opening track on their second album, which as you may have noticed from the first image on the video went by the snappy little title of … wait for it … The Existence of Chance Is Everything and Nothing While the Greatest Achievement Is the Living of Life, and so Say ALL OF US. Imagine asking for that in a record shop! That could well be a reason why the album didn’t make the charts, even though it was known in shorter form as just All Of Us. They were a bit of an oddball group, as this song has probably shown you, but I did rather like them. They reformed in 1985 and made another album some years later, but with no success. In fact their best result was when they sued a certain American band for appropriating their name, and somehow managed to come away with an out of court settlement reported to have been as much as $100,000. That was probably far more than they ever made in sales royalties from their music!

This next band were more mainstream here. They burst onto the scene when their second single, Everlasting Love, got to #1 here in the UK early in 1968. I have played it before, and this is the follow up to it, released in April of that year:

Any similarity between that and their previous single is entirely deliberate! Why change a winning formula? It didn’t do quite as well, though, peaking at #5, Love Affair were a fairly short-lived phenomenon: they enjoyed two further top ten singles and one which made the top twenty, all by July 1969, but they had no more chart entries after that. Rainbow Valley isn’t quite a direct copy of Everlasting Love, but it’s a close-run thing. The most notable thing about the band was the super vocals of Steve Ellis, who was only 16 at the time. Most of the guys you see gurning and miming on that video didn’t actually play on the record, which was the work of session musicians – not the first or last time a ‘band’ has been created in that way. It’s still an enjoyable listen, though.

Although I haven’t done much by way of my occasional Under The Covers series of late, this next one is a nod in its direction. I wanted to include this as well as the original, as it is such a fantastic cover:

I have played this song before in this series, but as that was more than two years ago I think a repeat airing is permitted. Molly Tuttle has suffered from Alopecia Areata since childhood, and wears a wig most of the time. She has said in interviews about how being stared at in public from an early age has enabled her to develop an inner strength, and to become aware of what feminism means for her. Some may not like the stance she is taking in that video: I applaud her for standing up and supporting others, and for her caring nature, and it is such a good fit for the reason I chose this theme. And her version of the song is absolutely gorgeous. She’s A Rainbow was on But I’d Rather Be With You, an album of covers that she released in August 2020. As far as I can tell it hasn’t made any charts, but like everything she does it is lovely. She gets pigeonholed into the bluegrass/folk/Americana categories, but I hope she gets more widespread attention. She has won several awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association, and is nominated for two more at the next Grammy Awards, scheduled for February 2023. My fingers are crossed for her.

I have played a couple of World Party songs recently, which were well received, so I make no apology for closing today with another. As I’ve said before, I don’t think they got the recognition they deserved, and this is another fantastic song by them. There isn’t an official video for it, just audio-only ones, but a fan has made this and I think it contains some lovely images (plus a few of the uploader’s own messages!). Just ignore it at the beginning when it says it is Friday – it isn’t, I checked and today is still Tuesday:

When the Rainbow Comes was a track on World Party’s second album, Goodbye Jumbo, which was released in April 1990 and peaked at #36 in the UK and #73 in the US – see what I mean about them being underrated? It is a superb album, and one which I think should have sold far more than it did. If you want a more objective view, how about Rolling Stone magazine giving it a four star rating (their max is five) when they reviewed it? They know their music!

That’s it for this week, and also for Tuesday Tunes this side of Christmas. Regulars will know that 1 December sees the start of my Advent Calendar, my annual marathon in which I post every day up to Christmas Day. Tuesday Tunes will return on 27 December with what will be the first episode in a two part New Year special. Hopefully I’ll see you then, and for tomorrow’s final monthly round up for this year, as well as those other 25 posts in December. Enjoy your week and the World Cup, even if it shouldn’t be being played where it is. 🎶⚽️🌈