After my dutiful Classical selection, I now embark in more
unbuttoned mode with my Popular choices. To remind Readers unfamiliar with the
British radio programme…….
The iconic BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs has been running since 1942, originally
compered by its creator Roy Plomley and now by Kirsty Young. A guest celebrity
is interviewed and invited to imagine he/she is a castaway on a desert island
and asked to select which 8 discs (“gramophone records” at one time) he/she
would wish to have there. The castaway is also allowed to choose one book (The
Bible and Shakespeare are already provided) and one luxury.
Although brought up on a nourishing diet of Scottish songs,
I became aware of pop music through radio request shows like Housewife’s Choice and Family Favourites. I soon got into the
groove.
1.
I Believe
by Frankie Laine.
I was a young fan of Frankie Laine, one of those
transitional singers between crooners and rock ‘n rollers. Frankie sang
agonised ballads like I Believe and Answer Me, although he achieved wider
fame with cowboy songs like Rawhide, OK
Corral and Champion the Wonder Horse.
I saw him at the London Palladium in the early 1950s. He was a pug-ugly fellow
but when he swivelled his hips suggestively, a box-full of young lady fans screamed,
swooned and disappeared. Of the same ilk was Johnny Ray who wowed us with Such a Night and Yes Tonight, Josephine. Bizarrely I saw him at a Vienna pop concert
in 1957, which ended prematurely when Johnny had to flee an army of ravenous
ladies charging the stage. With a friend I stood cheering on a chair and threw
around jumbo bags of popcorn – not perhaps my finest hour!
2.
All Shook
Up by Elvis Presley
The advent of Elvis in 1956 changed everything. His deep
voice, his range from gospel to the wildest rock ‘n roll electrified his young
fans, of which I was one. He lost much of his bite after he was conscripted and
later made rather dud films but he always remained “The King”.
3. You’ll never walk Alone from Carousel
Apart from pop music, there were the great songs from the
shows. Although Rogers and Hammerstein had first produced Carousel in 1945, I responded especially to the 1956 film version
with Gordon McRae in fine form singing If
I loved You and many other lovely songs. The finale You’ll never walk Alone always makes me blub!
4.
Rave On
by Buddy Holly
Elvis may have been The King but geeky and bespectacled
Buddy Holly had some of the best songs and we played his records constantly and
sadly posthumously after his plane crash death in 1959. The tribute show Buddy which ran for 6 years at London’s
Victoria Palace from 1989 brought it all flooding back.
5. Yes, I remember it well by Maurice
Chevalier and Hermione Gingold from Gigi
Another song from the shows, this time from the movie Gigi in 1958. Its charming lyrics and
tune by Lerner and Loewe combine wit with elegance and the Chevalier-Gingold
duo are perfection.
6.
Let it Be
by The Beatles
The Beatles exploded upon the pop world in the early 1960s
and I recall endless parties at Oxford singing along and dancing to their
music. Their psychedelic and Maharishi phases ended my interest but there were
some great tunes and good times. Let it
Be is their 1970 epilogue.
7.
Dancing Queen
by ABBA
A late flowering of my pop-following came with dynamic ABBA,
the Swedish quartet whose songs from 1974 onwards were truly memorable. The
tribute show and film Mama Mia! had
me creakily dancing in the aisles and loving every moment.
8.
My Love is
like a Red, Red Rose by Kenneth McKellar
Impossible for a Scotsman not to have a Robert Burns song
and this one is beautifully rendered by charming and unassuming Kenneth
McKellar. Kenneth often appeared at our then family-run venues in Aberdeen and
the audience always warmed to this delightful evocation of Love.
My book cements my oft-confessed frivolity and this time I
choose an Arthur Marshall Omnibus – Arthur wrote with unshakeable good humour,
warm reminiscence and admirable compression. You are never bored and he is
constantly amusing. My luxury fills a gap – I have never learnt an instrument
so I will take a guitar with a beginner’s manual and try to charm the birds
from the trees!
My selection naturally has an historic air but, when you are
72, that is inevitable. I hope there are some chords struck and some pleasure
given.
Readers, I repeat my earlier encouragement – choose your own
Desert Island Discs!
SMD
20.6.15
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment