I wasn't planning on posting again until Sunday, but then WordPress kindly reminded me of a piece I wrote nine years ago today. Sadly, it still feels relevant, perhaps even more so, and it isn't often that I go on a little rant so I thought you might like to see one. And it is worth sharing again for the genius of the late Kenny Everett.

Last week's Tuesday Tunes was themed around Autumn - here, if you missed it - and I closed the set with Vivaldi's Autumn from his Four Seasons suite. Several readers remarked on how much they liked it and, as ever, I took an idea from that. I have played a huge amount of music over the years, but very little of that has been classical.

A few weeks ago I played a Nick Lowe song and one of the comments mentioned another of his that I also liked. As so often happens, that sparked an idea, so this week I am taking something from that song as my theme: these are my cruel tunes. I'm starting with what to me feels like the obvious place to begin:

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As he tells us in his post Power Dynamics etc Jim is inviting us to play a song that relates to civil rights, oppression, protest, revolution or social change for this week's Song Lyric Sunday. I used 'protest' as a theme for a mini-series of Tuesday Tunes posts a while back, and thought about going back to one of the songs I featured in that, but instead have chosen something different.

It has been a couple of months since I last did one of my round ups of what I had seen and heard on YouTube, so it feels about time for another. In no particular order, here are some of the tunes I've enjoyed hearing, all of which have been uploaded to YouTube within the past month. Let's get started with a band I have written about before and have played several times.

I'm going seasonal for this week's Tuesday Tunes as today, 22 September, is the Autumn Equinox in the US, which falls(!) at 1am tomorrow here in the UK. This is officially the first day of autumn. Ignore the meteorologists who tell you that it begins on 1 September: what do they know, anyway! I have actually run with this theme before, but as that was five years ago I'm relying on you not remembering that, as I'm playing several of the same tunes again.

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Jim has given us a long list of related words for this week's Song Lyric Sunday, inviting us to play a song 'that mentions abandoning, departing, deserting, exiting, leaving, resigning, or retiring.' Is it National Bugger Off Day, or something? Nope, his post explains that today is the anniversary of the day that Paul told the others he was leaving The Beatles.

I have a couple of things for some of my occasional series in the works, but neither is quite ready yet, so for this week's midweek-ish offering I'm going back to the early days of my time with Song Lyric Sunday. As regulars will know this has become a core part of my schedule, and it doesn't really seem as if I've been doing it for just over four years - but I have!

So I thought I'd drop in an extra post to celebrate. According to WordPress I have posted seven times previously on this date - it's not as though I'm predictable, is it! I looked back through them to decide on one to share again, and liked the one I played last year best, so I'm giving it to you again. Last year my birthday fell rather conveniently on a Tuesday, and as I'm not in the least bit predictable I bet you can't guess how I did it!

While I was putting together Friday's post to mark the anniversary of 9/11 the thought occurred to me that I knew several good songs about New York which might make for a happier piece, so that is where I'm going this week: five songs with New York in their title. And before anyone complains (you know who you are!), there was always zero chance of 'Noo Yoick, Noo Yoick' being among them!

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For this week's Song Lyric Sunday Jim is inviting us to play a song that was written explicitly as a segue. His post tells all. My first thought was Jackson Browne's The Load Out/Stay medley that closes his Running On Empty album, but then I spotted the significance of Jim's use of the word explicitly, which ruled that out: the two songs weren't even written by the same people.

Five years ago I posted a piece remembering the utter horror of what happened in the US on 11 September 2001. On the twenty fifth anniversary it feels right to share that again for the many of you who weren't with me back then. I'll return at the end for a few brief comments, but for now, from 11 September 2021, this was:

Five years ago I posted a piece remembering the utter horror of what happened in the US on 11 September 2001. On the twenty fifth anniversary it feels right to share that again for the many of you who weren't with me back then. I'll return at the end for a few brief comments, but for now, from 11 September 2021, this was:

That newish WordPress feature that reminds you of what you had written on this day in previous years has given me one I enjoyed a lot, so I thought I'd share it again. Some of the videos are restricted by area - this was before the days when I had a place to check them out before posting - but I'm leaving them as they were, rather than make changes.

For this week's Tuesday Tunes I thought I would take a kind of leaf out of Jim's Song Lyric Sunday book, but instead of going for birthdays I'm playing a set of songs with September in their title. I've played most of these before but as I always say, you can't keep a good song down, and a couple of these are amongst my all time favourites.

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As is his custom, for the first Song Lyric Sunday of the month Jim is inviting us to play a song that was written or performed by an artist born in that month, i.e. September. His post Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 tells all. And as is my custom I consulted a very helpful website that I have found for this monthly delight, and found more than enough candidates.

Regular readers with extremely good memories may recall that I have an occasional series I call Under The Covers, or variations on that theme. The first of these was back in 2019 and there have been ten in all - hardly a regular occurrence! The most recent was a mere six months ago, but I have some more in mind to share, so here we are.

After I had posted my tribute for Dolly Parton I was thinking about all the good she had done, amongst which was her Dollywood Foundation and theme park. By one of those strange leaps that our minds sometimes take I went from Dollywood to Hollywood, and the idea for today's theme was born. I knew of several songs for it, and didn't need much research, so here is my set of…

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For this week's Song Lyric Sunday Jim is marking the US National Beach Day - which is today - by asking us to play a song that celebrates sandy beaches, as he tells us in his post, National Beach Day. In its current incarnation the day has been around since 2014, and is intended not just as a day to enjoy the beach but also as a way of reminding people of the importance of preserving beaches for others to enjoy.

On Tuesday afternoon I was wondering which of my occasional series I should turn to for my first midweek post in three weeks, and then the sad news broke of Dolly Parton's passing. There could only really be one subject for today, couldn't there. I am not the first to post something in tribute to her, but I hope that my words and choice of music will add something for you.

As I teased on Saturday, I'm now back from my blogging break with my first piece of new material - brief updates and archive dips aside - for more than a couple of weeks. I've used the time to think about how I approach my blog, and have taken the (for me) big step of moving to a paid plan. This will have the benefit for you, the reader, of not being subjected to whatever ads WordPress is pushing at us, and I hope it makes for a more reader-friendly experience.

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I thought I'd drop in again to let you know that I'll be returning from my blogging break on Tuesday, with a brand new, super shiny Tuesday Tunes post. As a taster for that, WordPress has helpfully reminded me of one from that series that was shared on this date in a year gone by. It was well-received at the time, so I hope you'll enjoy it again - or for the first time, if you have joined me since then.

I'm still on my break from posting new stuff, which means that today will mark the second week without a Tuesday Tunes. However, WordPress' newish feature reminding us of what we had posted on this day in years gone by came up with one which I'm sharing again today. Hopefully this  will assuage any withdrawal symptoms you may be experiencing!

I thought I’d drop in and let you know what I’m up to. Hopefully you will notice a small difference with this. After fourteen years of my blog I have finally taken the plunge and gone to a paid plan, to remove the adverts you will always have seen before. I have also changed the blog’s ID: previously it was ‘cliveblogs.wordpress.com’ and now it is ‘takeiteasyblog.uk’ – that seems more suitable!

I thought I'd drop in and let you know what I'm up to. Hopefully you will notice a small difference with this. After fourteen years of my blog I have finally taken the plunge and gone to a paid plan, to remove the adverts you will always have seen before. I have also changed the blog’s ID: previously it was ‘cliveblogs.wordpress.com’ and now it is ‘takeiteasyblog.uk’ – that seems more suitable!

When I mentioned that I was taking a brief time out from my blog - in A Brief Time Out, if you missed it - I did say that I might share the odd post from previous years if WordPress reminded me of one that I liked. That has happened today, so I playing this one again. I'll return at the end for a brief update on what I'm doing, but for now, first posted on 15 August 2024, this is:

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I've been thinking for some time of taking a little time out from my blog. The last time was in January 2023 when my father died, and since I returned from that I have posted three times a week - sometimes more - without fail. But I now feel in need of a short spell to recharge the batteries. This won't be a long break, I'm thinking maybe just a week, which means that the…

As his post Spice it Up tells us, Jim is asking us to play a song that mentions a spice for this week's Song Lyric Sunday. We had a similar theme a couple of years back, and again a couple of weeks ago. That time I played one of the two I had previously featured, and I'm playing you the other today.

It feels like time for another dip into John Holton's Writer's Workshop. His #1 prompt this week is Write a post inspired by the word test so that's what I'm doing. There are many possible interpretations for this but I'm going with the kind you need to pass before you are allowed full access to the road network, as distinct from the restricted rights you have as a learner on a provisional licence.

I teased in this week's Song Lyric Sunday post that I would be offering a companion piece to last week's Tuesday Tunes, and here it is. After playing a set of wedding songs last Tuesday, this week is about an important part of the big day: the bride. Not as many to choose from for this but I've found five that I like, so here goes.

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As it has been four months since I last shared some Friday Funnies I had been thinking about doing another, and then the sad news broke earlier this week of the passing last Saturday of Bill Oddie, at the age of 85. I have a feeling that most non-British readers will be asking 'who?' at this point, but Bill was a huge part of my formative years, so I felt it right to share some of that with you.

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As he tells us in his post, Universally Perceived Pleasurable Flavor (original US spelling), Jim is inviting us today to play a song that mentions candy, honey, sugar or sweet. It will be interesting to see how many pick up on the 'candy' part, which has very limited use here. Five years ago I even amended a Wikipedia page to reflect that we use the term 'sweets' here, and wrote a post about it: …

Another day, another reminder from WordPress of what I have done in previous years. I always liked this one, largely because of its subject, and for reasons I will come to when I return at the end, it is very timely. From five years ago, originally posted on 24 July 2021, this is: A LITTLE FEELGOOD I've been concentrating on music posts a lot recently, so I thought I'd give you something different for a change.