playlist for my dad

My dad Phil used to post on this blog regularly.

Here's a playlist of some of his favourite records, including most of the ones he posted on here:

Warren Zevon - Keep Me In Your Heart

Phil writes: I'm indebted to Spotify radio for playing me this beautifully simple and very moving song, the last track on his final album, recorded when he knew he was dying of cancer:

The Proclaimers - Ten Tiny Fingers

Phil writes: I heard this lovely song on the radio yesterday and was instantly enchanted:

Ricky Nelson - Lonesome Town

Phil writes: The new Blur single 'Lonesome Road' reminded me of this great Ricky Nelson track.  The Blur song even has what must surely be a reference to the earlier song with the words 'going down to....' repeated several times in the outro.

R.I.P. Percy Sledge

Phil writes: I remember being blown away when I first heard 'When a Man Loves a Woman'. An archetypal soul number, it has that rare ability to get to you every time:

Deacon Blue - Win

Phil writes: This new Deacon Blue single is up there is almost on a par with their best work I think.  It reminds me a bit of the Tom Baxter song 'Better' which deserves to be much better-known:

R.I.P. Lesley Gore

Phil writes: Lesley Gore will surely be remembered for one monster hit that has echoed down the years.  It may or may not be great music.  I happen to think that it is a worthy pop classic.  When a song is played so many times over so many years it usually deserves to be on WGM:

Dion and the Belmonts - Where or When

Phil writes: One of my all-time favourite songs by a singer I like a lot.  Released in 1959, it's very much a performance of its time but it's no wonder that it was his, and their, greatest hit:

R.I.P. Gerry Goffin

When you look at the list of great lyrics Gerry Goffin was responsible for it's mind-blowing (especially as, by all accounts, his mind was blown for much of the time).  So it's difficult to pick out favourites. This is certainly one of the most enduring Goffin and King songs:



This is perhaps my favourite, a perfect match of music and lyrics and a very 'grown-up' song for its time. Though many people have done it justice, I still love Carole King's own version, with James Taylor and Joni Mitchell on backing vocals:



Although it seems very much a woman's song, it has been recorded by a number of male artists including Bruce Springsteen and Neil Diamond. And the one and only Smokey:

A Great Big World and PS22 Chorus - Say Something

Phil writes: I was hesitating about posting this instant classic of a song because I thought most people will already have heard it.  Then I came across this great performance which also introduced me to the amazing PS22 chorus:

 

Joshua Kadison - Jessie

Phil writes:  Have heard this on the radio several times recently.  I thought it must be a track from the Sixties that I'd somehow missed.  In fact, I was three decades out.  Anyway, like some other songs that feature phone calls (almost up there with 'Diamonds and Rust') it immediately grabs, and keeps, your attention:

R.I.P. Pete Seeger

Phil writes: This is his 94th birthday celebration.  By now his voice had more or less gone, in terms of singing, but the audience participation, which he always encouraged, helps to make this very moving.  He wrote the music and the words were adapted, by others, from the Book of Ecclesiastes:

Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream

Phil writes: I meant to post this to mark Phil Everly's death.  For me it is their greatest track, with a memorable melody and the timeless harmonies for which they were noted:



One of my all-time gig highlights, was when Simon and Garfunkel, on their last reunion tour, acknowledged the debt they owed to the Everlys and then (this was a total surprise to me) introduced them:

Don't let it die - Hurricane Smith

Phil writes:  Heard this on the radio recently.  I always thought it was a great song and, clearly, more and more relevant as the years go by:

  Hurricane Smith was a sound engineer who worked a lot with the Beatles.

For The Good Times - Perry Como

Phil Writes:  This is a Kris Kristofferson song.  Normally, I think he performs his own songs best.  But I really like this version.  Perry Como had a very relaxed voice and though he may be out of fashion now he had a weekly TV show that, at a time when we only had a couple of TV channels (if we were lucky), showcased a lot of great songs and singers we might otherwise never have heard:

How Long Will I Love You - Ellie Goulding and The Waterboys

Phil writes: Ellie Goulding has a good version that is likely to become a classic wedding song (according to her and I think she's right).  It also features on the soundtrack of Richard Curtis's movie 'About Time':



The original is excellent and I love this live acoustic version, slower than the original, including a Cohenesque introduction from Mike Scott:

Only You - Yazoo and the Platters

Phil writes: Heard the Yazoo song the other day and was reminded how good it is:



Not surprisingly, the title is not unique to this song, and I've loved this Platters track from the moment I first heard it many moons ago:

I Drove All Night - Roy Orbison

Phil writes: I've heard this a lot recently. Although he didn't write it, and recorded it late in his career, it's up there with his classics as far as I'm concerned.

 

R.I.P. George Jones

Phil writes: A great country singer has died.  I first heard this track covered by Elvis Costello  -  very well, I thought. But this sounds majestic and the two voices go well together.  He did write a lot of the songs he recorded but this was written by Jerry Chesnut.

Emmylou Harris - Here, there and everywhere

Phil writes:  With all the Beatles stuff there's been in the past year, I was wondering why they hardly feature on WGM.  The reason must be that their music, which is clearly amongst the world's greatest, is so well known that we assume readers of the blog will already know almost anything we might post.

However, a great many of their songs have been covered and there are some excellent versions which may not be that well-known.  This is one: