At around twenty past eight tonight, it'll be 8 years exactly since the Manic Street Preachers serenaded Sam's birth. I've told the story before, but the doctors had the radio on in the operating room as they performed Louise's cesarean, and the tune that welcomed Sam into the world was the one below.
Show me the wonder
I have seen the birthplace of the universe
A more apt song I could not imagine, since Sam has constantly shown me the wonder ever since. And as he opened his football and Formula 1 themed presents this morning, I took a moment to reflect that, while I might have failed at getting him into comics, I have taught him to appreciate a good tune.
Every gambler knows that the secret to survival is knowing what to throw away, and knowing what to keep. Because every hand's a winner, and every hand's a loser, and the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.
Wiser words have seldom been sung. Here's this week's full house...
Pull up a Big Log and Plant your bottom down on it... it's time to play Saturday Snapshots again.
There may be 29 Palms, but there are only 10 artists to identify from the clues below. Once you know who they are, work out what connects their songs... and identify the songs too, if you can be bothered.
10. Kermit and inlaw.
9. Initial ocean view? Correct!
8. Follows extra time.
7. Road to Damascus? Almost, Nina.
6. Cthulhu.
5. Osibisa headline at King's College.
4. Sam's pal buries saint in Suffolk.
3. Fab doctor and sex expert.
2. Top Gear.
1. And evil trembles...
Heaven Knows the answers will be here tomorrow morning...
We seem to be going through one of those phases where heaven's waiting room is filling up with the great and good from my record collection again... to the point that I'm having trouble keeping up. I hadn't even heard about Charlie Watts passing until Alyson brought it to my attention. Charlie was, of course, the cement that held the Stones together...
We also lost Nanci Griffith, a much loved and respected singer songwriter who was also very supportive of new talent throughout her career. She died at just 68, which is no age at all, and I must have heard the track below (live version, it just has to be) played about five times on the radio in the past couple of weeks. Rightly so, because it's powerfully evocative of times long gone...
Before that, we said goodbye to Dusty Hill, bassist and beardsmith of ZZ Top. Here he is taking lead vocals on a track they probably wouldn't play on the radio any more, more's the pity...
Another one I almost missed was Don Everly, who outlived his brother Phil by ten years, but finally said Bye Bye, Love last week. (No disrespect meant, but I can't have been the only one to pen that line.)
Finally... perhaps the least well known of the bunch... but still quite a blow for me, was the death of country songwriter Tom T. Hall. Most famous for writing the divine Harper Valley, PTA, Tom T. Hall was a true lyrical storyteller... to the point that he had a nice sideline going as a short story writer. Here he is doing what he did best...
Rest in peace, all you guys. Thanks for the songs.
