For this week’s reprise of a previous theme I’m returning again to one of the sets I originally posted as part of my mini-series for the Five Ws and H of journalism. This time, the new set is when songs. I had quite a few for this that I had to leave out first time round, so the only problem I had with this was in choosing which ones to omit a second time. Maybe a third beckons, at some point. For now though this is when again.

I’m starting with a song I always liked right back to when it was a hit in the UK, which comes with a fan video for your added viewing pleasure:

McGuinness Flint was a UK band formed in 1970 by Tom McGuinness, formerly bassist and guitarist with Manfred Mann, and Hughie Flint, former drummer with John Mayall; plus vocalist and keyboard player Dennis Coulson, and multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle, who later went on to form their own band called, you guessed it, Gallagher and Lyle. Those two wrote this song, and Graham Lyle took the lead vocal. When I’m Dead And Gone was released as McGuinness Flint’s debut single in November 1970, and reached #2 in the UK and #47 in the US. As I said, I’ve always liked it, and it is thought to be one of the first UK chart hits to feature a prominent mandolin part – before a certain Roderick Stewart cottoned onto this being a good idea.

I thought I might have played this next one before but it appears not. It’s about time I did, though:

When Will I Be Loved was written by Phil Everly, and was first recorded by the Everly Brothers in 1960, when it reached #4 in the UK and #8 in the US. Linda Ronstadt recorded it for her fabulous album Heart Like A Wheel, which was released in November 1974 and made #1 in the US Albums chart, though it wasn’t a UK hit. This was the third single taken from it, in March 1975, peaking at #2 in the US though again it didn’t make the UK chart. Sometimes I wonder what we are doing with our record buying here – how could we not love Linda’s beautiful voice!

I’m going with the return of one of my favourite musicians next. The live versions on YouTube aren’t that great so I’m going with the official audio-only version, but I think the song speaks for itself anyway:

As the video shows, Bruce Springsteen released When You’re Alone on his Tunnel Of Love album, which came out in October 1987. It was the follow up to Born In The USA, though it was more than three years since that one. It got to #1 in both the US and the UK, and sold more than 3m in the US in the process. Small beer compared with the worldwide 30m for its predecessor, perhaps, but still very respectable. This one has the distinction of being the last album I ever bought on vinyl, before CDs and subsequently streaming took over. When You’re Alone wasn’t released as a single, either as an A- or B-side, which I think is a mark of the quality of the album as a whole.

There have been a number of recordings of this next tune, but this is still my favourite, by a distance:

Alison Krauss and Union Station recorded When You Say Nothing At All in 1994 for a tribute album to Keith Whitley, the American country singer whose was the first version of the song that I knew. Keith died from alcohol poisoning in 1989 at the age of just 34, and the tribute album was a mark of respect for a brief but fairly successful life. He had five US Country #1 hits, including this one. Alison’s version was released as a single in January 1995, and peaked at #53 in the US and #81 in the UK. It was also included on the compilation album Now That I’ve Found You, which came out in February 1995 and got to #13 in the US. A word of warning: stay well clear of the version by Groaning Ronan, which somehow made #1 here in the UK – proof of what I meant earlier about the UK record buying public!

For today’s final tune I faced a small quandary: which version should I play. The original is good, but this is the version I grew up with:

The original recording of When You Walk in the Room was made by Jackie DeShannon, who wrote the song and had a minor US hit with it in 1963, reaching #99 there. The Searchers, one of the many Liverpool bands finding success at that time, released their version in September 1964, getting to #3 in the UK and #35 in the US. Sorry, Jackie, but I really do prefer their version!

That’s a wrap for today, and I hope you enjoyed them. I’ll see you again in a couple of days with a non-music post, and then again on Sunday as usual. Have a great week! 😊