Memory Mixtape #23: The Passing Of Time And All Of Its Sickening Crimes…

…is making me sad again.

Therapy time. Please feel free to skip today’s post, it’s just for me. (Then again, aren't they all?)

I was talking a couple of weeks ago about my… sadness. I’m going to use that instead of the “d” word, because it seems more appropriate. As we all know, writing can be good therapy. It’s certainly cheaper than real therapy, so here we are. And I’m going to use a therapist’s questions to help me.

Can you explain your sadness?

There are many different facets.

Pick one. Just one example.

OK. The present upsets me, but the past is starting to upset me too. Because it all seems to far away, and getting father every day. A while back, when I set up Memory Mixtape, I figured this would be one of my most popular series. Not popular with readers, since clearly I long since stopped trying to write for other people. Popular with me. I used to love writing about my childhood, my teenage years, and even just a few years back I had a long-running feature here called Radio Songs in which I relieved the highs and lows of my 20s, working in the radio industry. There’s comfort in nostalgia, in going back to the good old days, rose-tinting your past to airbrush out the bad times and create a glorious memory utopia where the sun’s always shining, even if it’s pissing down in the present. 

So why aren’t you writing Memory Mixtape every week?

That’s the question, isn’t it? Because the comfort’s no longer there. Now, when I try writing about the past, I invariably just get sad about what’s gone – long gone, in many cases. 30, 40 years gone. Never to return, never to get back, never to be there again or have that again or feel that again. 

D:Ream – Things Can Only Get Better

For many years of my life, it felt like D:Ream were telling the truth. OK, things might be bad right now, but they will get better. You’ll do better, you’ll get better, you’ll feel better. Since turning 50, the D:Ream potential has evaporated, and all I’m left with is the certitude of entropy…

Everyday things are getting worse

The Selecter – Time Hard

The goal is to be more like Frank. If only...

Positive Songs For Negative Times #3: Things Can...

It's the uncertainty, that's the worst thing.

Not so much the uncertainty about catching the disease, since the odds still seem to be in most of our favours in that regard... although I'm sure we all have loved ones in the more vulnerable categories.

The real uncertainty comes from what will happen to our society in the next few weeks. That uncertainty is made worse by the fact that most of us have no faith in the people in charge to do what is best for us.

These are unprecedented times and many of us already feel like we're at breaking point. Sometimes it seems like the only thing that keeps us going is our routine. Routine is very important. It helps us function, it gives us comfort, it keeps us sane.

Disruption to the equilibrium may affect us in far more serious ways than any virus can.

At least I can still talk to my friends here. Hopefully we can maintain some kind of routine, some kind of pattern, that soothes our shaky sanities in the weeks to come. We can still stick together, right here, and get through this.

This is a shameless feelgood pop song that was tarnished somewhat by its involvement in a political campaign... depending on your feelings about Tony Blair... although maybe it's time to forgive him his sins in light of recent incumbents. To be honest, no pop song can truly survive being involved in a political campaign. With the possible exception of A Change Is Gonna Come. Although even that promised more than it actually delivered.

The only other thing we all know about this song is who played the keyboards. Although he apparently only played them live; lead singer Peter Cunnah played all instruments on the recorded tracks. It's fair to say things could only get better for the live keyboardist. I wonder what he makes of the current climate? Him, I'd vote for.

More chaos magic then. I'll keep doing this until it actually has some effect...

The United Kingdom of Song #16: Derry

Across the sea to Northern Ireland today, to Londonderry, or Derry to its inhabitants, birthplace of the Undertones, That Petrol Emotion and D:Ream (but not their famous keyboard player, who came from Oldham).


Derry crops up in any number of popular songs, not least as the tune to Danny Boy: The Londonderry Air.


Lyrical mentions include The Streets of Derry by Shirley Collins, David Allan Coe's Crazy Mary and a song from Finean's Rinbow, How Are Things In Glocca Morra, which appears to have been recorded by everybody and their dog... but here's Babs doing it, because you can't go wrong with Babs.


This week's selection comes from another famous Derry resident though... Mr. Neil Hannon.

I was born in Londonderry

I was born in Derry City too

Oh what a special child

To see such things and still to smile

I know that there was something wrong

But I kept my head down and carried on