A Perfect Chord In The Music Of Time

This is for the "Melodic Milestone Playlist" Vocal Challenge which you can read about below.

The Prompt

Create a personalized soundtrack to your life.

A Further Introduction

I was chatting with my great friend Les about what I was doing for this challenge and, as always, she came up with some excellent ideas about events in my life and that there should be a single playlist of twelve songs, which may be two per decade and people and events that I should include in this,

So I will now construct this for your enjoyment, and this will be totally self-contained. Obviously, music has played a great part in my life but tying songs to events is a little difficult sometimes, also I don't really want to embarrass anyone.

Many songs remind me of people, and I used to assign ringtones to people before everyone just silenced their phones. So I may just assign some songs and music to people who are important to me and any odd event that does pop up.

Hope I can keep your attention for twelve songs

1:Elvis Presley - "Hound Dog"

Though this was from the year before I was born, according to my uncle Trevor I was at my grandma's and this came on and I started jumping up and down because I liked it so much. So this is possibly the first-ever record that I liked.

2:Ramin Djawadi - "Game of Thrones"

This is the ringtone I have for Fiona as this is a favourite of hers, and I think she knows the name of every actor in everything we watch together, Her memory is incredible while mine is like a sieve.

3:Dire Straits - Romeo And Juliet

This came out when Juliet was born and so provided her first name. I hope that is not too trite. I am so proud of the life she has built for herself. When I was diagnosed with liver cancer Juliet was just "You'll be fine, I've had cancer three times and they sorted me".

When she was two she was on the terminal ward in the Manchester Children's Hospital with an ovarian cyst but she came out and has shown incredible strength and resilience ever since as she approaches her fortieth birthday.

4:Kirsty MacColl - They Don't Know

Kirsty is my youngest daughter and has a great career as a manager at Gateshead Council (she might not be a manager but she is high up), and we argue about the merits of Index/Match against VLookup.

She married Mark and they had a Star Wars themed wedding with this incredible cake.

In 2020 when we were locked down with Covid Kirsty rang me to tell me she was pregnant and in October Mark and Kirsty brought Alexis Leia into this world. They made me a very proud grandad.

Here is a poem I wrote for Alexis Leia

5: James Horner - Rose's Theme (My Heart Will Go On)

I joined Vocal in April 2021 and wasn't too sure what I was doing (I'm still not) but in June I got two tips from someone called Call Me Les. They made me believe that my work was valid and worth doing.

Since then we have become great friends, supporting and encouraging each other and working together as admins in Vocal Social Society.

Unbelievably I still don't know much about Les's musical tastes but I do know that she loves this piece, so this makes me think of our friendship.

6: Roxy Music - "Sultanesque"

I bought the Roxy Music single "Love Is The Drug" and when I flipped it I heard this amazing hypnotic drone piece. The big shock was that it was a Bryan Ferry composition.

This was a time of pub jukeboxes and I used to have great fun putting this on and annoying the drinkers who really didn't have a clue. If it wasn't top twenty it shouldn't be on, and "B" sides should never be played, but they were by me.

7: Spoon - "Rockin' In The Free World"

Just to sort of prove (if you believe me) that I can make music as well as listen. This is me singing with Spoon about twenty years back at the Tyneside Irish Centre. People say that my voice sounds a bit like Neil Young, take a listen and see what you think. The amazing guitar work is Chris Ball.

8: Terraplane - "Beer And Cigarettes"

When The Bok went to Rabid Records to talk about our first single (it didn't happen but the demos are on Soundcloud below) they played this song from the Stiff Scratch'n'Sniff "Akron Compilation" album and I had to buy it immediately.

It wasn't available on Youtube so when we thought the Free Trade was going to be built in front of I created the video above with the song as a soundtrack. It brings back a lot of memories.

9: Lawlor "Mad Alice Lane (A Ghost Story)"

This was a sweet story that resulted in a Vocal Story. I created this slideshow because the song disappeared from YouTube. It has had a lot of views and people were asking about the story behind the song and what the lyrics were.

Then Peter Lawlor, the guy who made the record turned up and explained everything. If you go through to the Youtube you can see that in the comments.

Things like that always stick with me

10: Harry J Allstars - "Liquidator"

Sometime in my teens, I worked on a fairground on Moor Park in Preston. I lasted three days but loved the music that was constantly playing which was almost entirely ska.

The thing is the the people I hung around with were greasers and rockers, but ska and reggae were mod and skinhead music. I suppose this is an indication of how I almost always become an outsider wherever I am.

11: Bob Dylan - "If You See Her, Say Hello"

Around the time I broke up with my first girlfriend Anne, Bob Dylan released his album inspired by his divorce. I thought her first new boyfriend was not impressive but then she met a really nice guy and I assume has a great life now, which makes me really happy.

This song says it all for me.

12: Johnny Cash - "Ring Of Fire"

I am a huge Johnny Cash fan and for that, I have to thank my dad, who still loves Johnny Cash, and my great boyhood friend Chris who we lost to lung cancer, now an everlasting ice blue jeaned and winkle pickered rocker.