Category Archives: Music

I got your name tattooed inside of my arm

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Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem

The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon, courtesy of Last Year’s Girl

Last night Gem and I went to see The Gaslight Anthem at Glasgow’s O2 Academy. The girls, meanwhile, went to Grandma and Grandpa’s for a sleepover, something they absolutely adore. That doesn’t stop them being curious about what Mummy and Daddy will be doing of course.

“We’re going to see a band playing. You like some of their songs. You sing along to them in the car” I said, before breaking out YouTube to show her who I was talking about, and what the experience might look like. What I wasn’t expecting was the question that followed:

“Why does he have so many tattoos?”

Gem and I were talking about this later, and agreed that the chances of either of us having seen a tattoo were slim – in those days they were reserved almost exclusively for sailors, builders and convicts. But that was a long time ago, and times have changed. Just because neither of us have ever felt the urge to get inked, doesn’t mean plenty of our friends haven’t. Among our generation, tattoos are as commonplace as glasses or dyed hair. Or beards.

And, getting back to the story, it’s undeniable that Brian Fallon is a man with a lot of tattoos, including that one on his neck that must have stung a bit. So I answered in a suitably matter-of-fact manner.

“Yes, Heather he does. Some people have lots of tattoos. Do you not like them?”

If we weren’t expecting the initial question, we certainly weren’t expecting her next response, which left the two of us pretty much speechless.

“No, he has too many. I mean, if it was a Hello Kitty…”

Me and Gem just looked at each other, dumbfounded. Here was our little girl discussing the relative merits of different tattoos. I can’t honestly remember how we responded to that. It might even have been at that point that Heather pointed out the 2 guys in the video walking through the Reading Festival crowd, dressed as Mario and Luigi.

But it was certainly an interesting moment, and one which, combined with her being almost word perfect on Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”*, confirms that she’s getting older all the time. Our little girl isn’t so little now, she’s learning more about the world every day, and is more than capable now of holding her own opinions on all sorts of things.

Including tattoos, although I’m not so sure Brian Fallon would agree with her taste.

*Incidentally, Megan also loves a bit of Taylor Swift, and will happily sing “Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble” whenever she hears it

I'm running a 10k at the end of May in aid of The MS Society. You can read my story here, and I'd be eternally grateful if you could sponsor me, which you can do on my Just Giving page.

You can even donate by texting RBMS99 and the amount you'd like to donate (in pounds) to 70070. So, for example, to donate £2, text RBMS99 £2 to 70070.

Thanks very much (in advance) for your support!

Let me sleep (it’s Christmas time)

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I’m not sure why it took me so long to pay attention to the BritMums festive playlist linky, I’m just glad I spotted it in time to take part.

The format here is pretty straightforward – pick (at least) five festive songs and explain why I love them. Given that a week or so ago we spent a night building a spreadsheet whilst trying to decide which Christmas album to buy (Heather insisted on Christmas music in the car) and have been listening to Christmas music at home pretty much ever since, it shouldn’t be that hard to do, right?

There are, of course, plenty of very obvious songs I could include here. But where’s the fun in that – everyone’s already heard Slade, Band Aid, Wizzard and the Pogues (feat Kirsty McColl) more times than they probably care to mention. So, instead, I present here a bunch of less well-known Christmas songs which are floating my boat this festive season.

1. Pearl Jam – Let Me Sleep
Lifted from a 1991 fan club single, this anti-festive ditty is actually quite nostalgic at its heart. When you were a kid there really was something magical about Christmas, and now I’m getting to see that all over again, through the girls’ eyes.

2. Noel Gallagher – Merry Christmas Everybody
I’m pretty sure this was recorded for a Royle Family Christmas special back in the late 90s. I’m also sure my dad hated it when I played it, because it’s a bit more melancholy than the Slade original. But that’s its charm!

3. Manic Street Preachers – Ghost of Christmas
Another nostalgic one this, and one I suspect the Manics would never have dreamed of recording at their outset. I mean, it’s got saxophone and everything! No idea where the visuals in the below clip come from btw, pretty sure they’re nothing to do with the song itself.

4. Geraldine McQueen – Once Upon a Christmas Song
Is this obvious? I don’t know, but Peter Kay’s Christmas parody is certainly not one you’ll find on any commercial Christmas compilation, that’s for sure. Which is a shame, because it’s actually a decent tune, and one which definitely gets stuck in my head every time I hear it.

Bonus fact: I once saw Conleth Hill, the actor who played Geraldine’s mum on TV, in a Russian play about a suicide. He was very good, as was the play.

5. Lou Monte – Dominick the Donkey
Anyone who listened to the Chris Moyles Show will know this one, as it got played to death, in honour of newsreader Dominic Byrne. I think it might even have got into the Christmas charts a couple of years ago, presumably around the time we bought it. The only other time I’ve seen/heard it mentioned was by my cousin last year, just after he’d moved to New York, questioning if it was a real thing!

And speaking of the Real Thing (see what I did there?) this linky is all in aid of promoting Coca Cola’s Designated Driver programme, which you can find out more about by clicking on the link below.

Update: Only after I’d posted this did I discover Chris T-T has recorded a Christmas EP. I’ve seen Chris a few times now, and have written about how his brilliant Disobedience album inspired me to read AA Milne to Heather, so I’ll definitely be picking this new EP up. I’m pretty sure it would have made this list, had I done so in time!

I'm running a 10k at the end of May in aid of The MS Society. You can read my story here, and I'd be eternally grateful if you could sponsor me, which you can do on my Just Giving page.

You can even donate by texting RBMS99 and the amount you'd like to donate (in pounds) to 70070. So, for example, to donate £2, text RBMS99 £2 to 70070.

Thanks very much (in advance) for your support!

The 12 dads of Christmas

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When Ben (aka The Fool) contacted me a couple of weeks ago asking if I’d be part of a video project he was embarking on, I agreed in an instant, without knowing what was involved. Only after I’d signed up did he reveal that the video I’d to produce involved singing. Hmmmmm… not my strongest talent, but by this time I was signed up – what could I do?

Of course I’ve been found exercising my vocal chords on YouTube before; sadly, though, my rousing rendition of Flower of Scotland (before a match at Hampden) is no longer available, or I’d have it linked here. No, really!

Anyhow, Ben’s idea was to get 12 dads singing The 12 Days of Christmas. Each of us were given a different verse to sing, and a deadline to get our video back to Ben. Easy peasy. I waited until our tree was up, just to give proceedings a festive backdrop, and then in literally 4 takes it was done. How professional!

The final result is (hopefully) embedded below for your amusement and delight. I’m absolutely thrilled with the result, as was Heather when she spotted me on YouTube. Imagine – Daddy appearing on her beloved YouTube. I think a small part of her mind might actually have been blown.

My only criticism of the whole thing is aimed squarely at myself. Next time I’ll make sure to have a light or two on, so I can actually be seen – the shadowy air of mystery I’ve ended up with wasn’t intentional!

Now, all we have to do is sit back and wait for Mr Cowell’s call, for fame and fortune surely beckon?

You can read Ben’s blog post about the project, including a list of everyone involved, here. Thanks to Ben and all the other dads for creating something truly… special :)

I'm running a 10k at the end of May in aid of The MS Society. You can read my story here, and I'd be eternally grateful if you could sponsor me, which you can do on my Just Giving page.

You can even donate by texting RBMS99 and the amount you'd like to donate (in pounds) to 70070. So, for example, to donate £2, text RBMS99 £2 to 70070.

Thanks very much (in advance) for your support!

Music was my first love

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Things have been pretty quiet round here of late, I think I’m lucky if I’ve managed one post in the past month. I blame the Olympics… well, that and training for a 10k that’s now only two weeks away – eek!

So as an attempt at getting back in the habit I’m shamelessly stealing borrowing an idea from Last Year’s Girl, and joining in with the Guardian’s Six Songs of Me project. The idea is as follows: they give you six prompts, you pick a song for each one. How could I resist?

You can see my picks here, and if you’re a Spotify user you can listen to them too. If you want to know why I picked the songs I did, read on…

The first song you ever bought
Los Lobos – La Bamba
I didn’t like much “modern” music when I was young, preferring to explore my dad’s record collection. At age 11 I finally caught up with the 80s and bought my first record… a cover of a song from the 50s! True story: I’d have taped this off the radio, except they always cut off the guitar bit at the end, which irritated me beyond belief.

The song that gets you dancing
Stevie Wonder – Superstition
In the mid to late 90s I spent a lot of time in Fury Murray’s. And if this didn’t get played at least once, it wasn’t a good night out!

The song that takes you back to your childhood
Elvis Presley – Blue Suede Shoes
A highlight of my dad’s aforementioned record collection, I think this was probably the first song I knew all the words to. Even though I had no idea what “drink my liquor from an old fruit jar” actually meant.

Your perfect love song
Beach Boys – God Only Knows
Paul McCartney once described this as the most beautiful song he’d ever heard, and who am I to disagree? I remember playing this to Gem one night, saying it was from me to her. I think the opening line, “I may not always love you”, threw her a bit, but she soon got the real message, and I think she had shed a tear or two by the end.

The song you’ll have played at your funeral
Pearl Jam – Yellow Ledbetter
No-one really knows what this song is really about, so mumbled are the lyrics. And that includes Pearl Jam themselves! But it’s their most consistent set closer, which seems apt, and it’s got a fantastic Mike McCready outro to boot. Perfect.

Encore – one more song that made you you
Manic Street Preachers – Faster
I think I’ve seen the Manics more than any other band, so they had to figure here somewhere. It was a toss up between this and La Tristesse Durera, but I was listening to The Holy Bible when I filled the thing in.

So that’s the six songs of me – what are yours?

I'm running a 10k at the end of May in aid of The MS Society. You can read my story here, and I'd be eternally grateful if you could sponsor me, which you can do on my Just Giving page.

You can even donate by texting RBMS99 and the amount you'd like to donate (in pounds) to 70070. So, for example, to donate £2, text RBMS99 £2 to 70070.

Thanks very much (in advance) for your support!

I took my pennies to the market square

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I mentioned last week how between us me and Heather had concocted a fishing game, using a bit of ribbon and a Snow White figure. I still don’t really understand her contribution, that the fish has to be asleep before it can be caught, but then I’m not three years old – maybe I’m not supposed to understand?

Yesterday she came up with another game, based on the AA Milne poem “Market Square”. I say game, it’s really role play I guess, but whatever you want to call it, it’s amusing. What it involves is Heather holding some coins (she found some on my bedside table this morning, including one that came back from Sweden with me) and saying she is going with them to the Market Square. When she gets there, she asks if I have any rabbits, and when I say no, she asks what I do have. Which is one of sweet lavender, fresh mackerel or new saucepans. But she doesn’t want any of those, she wants a rabbit. And I don’t have any of those. So she goes away “disappointed”. Every time.

If you’re not familiar with the poem this probably doesn’t make much sense. I’d have been in the same boat until fairly recently, until I came across Chris T-T’s excellent “Disobedience” album in fact. It’s a collection of AA Milne poems set to music, which was performed at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe and then at various shows around the country. Every track is brilliant, and even better, I discovered we’ve got all the lyrics at home, in the form of a Winnie the Pooh collection that includes the books the poems are taken from.

I tried reading from the book one night at bedtime and it seemed to go down well. So much so, in fact, that Heather’s asked for it the last couple of times I put her to bed. Tonight it was a late substitute, mind you, but it replaced the Gruffalo, and if that isn’t high praise then I don’t know what is.

I’m pleased to report that she seems to like my favourite of the poems, Binker, although I think Market Square is Heather’s favourite. It’s certainly the only one she’s made a game out of, although I guess there’s plenty of time for the others to be gamefied yet!

You can hear – and buy – Chris T-T’s “Disobedience” on his Bandcamp page. The whole album really is excellent, but I’d especially recommend Binker, which would bring a tear to a glass eye. And Market Square, of course.

I'm running a 10k at the end of May in aid of The MS Society. You can read my story here, and I'd be eternally grateful if you could sponsor me, which you can do on my Just Giving page.

You can even donate by texting RBMS99 and the amount you'd like to donate (in pounds) to 70070. So, for example, to donate £2, text RBMS99 £2 to 70070.

Thanks very much (in advance) for your support!