Bill Withers died.
Wow.
He was good.
And the best song that I think he wrote and sang.
Was ‘Aint No Sunshine’.
Rick Astley.
Anyhow.
Another big Bill Withers fan is Rick Astley.
So when Bill died, Rick recorded his own version of ‘Aint No Sunshine’.
It should be shit, of course.
But it’s not.
But then we can have a listen to Bill singing and playing it live as well.
Sheesh!
(Check the drummer’s face).
Here we go: https://www.50odd.co.uk/bill-2/.
I last drove about a week ago.
And I was just about the only person on the road.
It was 7am.
Lockdown was new.
And people were.
(Mostly).
Staying at home.
Little TESCO.
I was on my way to a little TESCO.
And unbeknownst to me at the time.
I was also on my way to my first ever experience of having to queue outside a supermarket.
Two metres from the stranger in front.
Before being politely asked to sanitise my hands.
And waved in to wander around the whole store.
Slowly.
With just 4 other people.
All of us complying with a hastily conceived.
Yet smoothly imposed.
One-in-one-out shopping system.
The Jackson 5.
This is what it must have felt like for The Jackson 5.
I thought.
As they were invited to wander around a specially opened Harrods.
In 1978.
And spend a couple of million quid.
But that comparison faded quickly.
As I paused to stare at an almost bare shelf.
Pondering whether kitchen roll was designed to behave in the same way as toilet roll was.
Under certain, precise circumstances.
Reality.
Back to reality.
I mumbled.
As I picked up two rolls of ‘Plenty’.
Mouthing ‘I Want You Back’.
And moonwalking to the toothpaste.
I Want You Back.
Here.
Now you can do it too: https://www.50odd.co.uk/the-jackson-5-in-little-tesco/.
You need to read this one here: https://www.50odd.co.uk/that-time-bagpuss-turned-down-radiohead.
Radiohead.
When you watch the Radiohead video for ‘There, There.’
It’s obvious really.
It’s obvious that Thom’s main influence was Bagpuss.
Emily.
Bagpuss.
In case you didn’t know.
Is:
The most important.
The most beautiful.
The most magical.
Saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world.
Oh.
And Emily loved him.
Bagpuss.
If you ask me.
Bagpuss is timelessly wonderful.
And endlessly creative.
The premise goes around and around and around.
Emily finds a thing.
Brings it to Bagpuss.
Who magically wakes up.
And when Bagpuss wakes up.
All his friends wake up too.
The Mice on the Mouse Organ.
Madeleine the Rag Doll.
Gabriel the Toad.
And Professor Yaffel.
Take a look:
Oliver Postgate.
Anyhow.
Thom asked Bagpuss creator Oliver Postgate to create a music video for ‘There There’ in 2003.
But Mr. Postgate.
Who was retired at the time.
Declined.
So Chris Hopewell did it instead.
Inspired by Bagpuss and Brother’s Grimm.
Favourite Things.
I like that story.
The story of the video for the Radiohead single.
‘There There’.
Because it combines two of my most favourite things.
Radiohead.
And Bagpuss.
Here’s Radiohead’s ‘There There’ video:
One Last Thing.
One last thing.
The full title of this Radiohead single is, ‘There There (The Bony King of Nowhere).
Here’s why:
Someone you know.
Will be worrying right now.
Yet they won’t tell you they’re worried.
Because they won’t want to worry you.
Nice.
If you think you know someone like this.
And you want them to know you’re thinking of them.
Send them this.
And ask them to listen to listen to the words: https://www.50odd.co.uk/nice-3/.
Here’s the world’s greatest ever band.
Smoking tabs.
And singing one of the world’s greatest songs.
With no backing track.
(I also think that John Lennon’s mobile phone goes off 48 seconds in.
In 1965.
8 years before Motorola’s first mass produced mobile phone hit the market in April 1973.
Weird).
Here we go: https://www.50odd.co.uk/help-2/.
‘For No One’.
Is a Beatles song you may not have heard before.
But I’d wager that whoever you heard singing it.
You’d know it was by the Beatles.
Paul McCartney.
Credited to Lennon and McCartney.
‘For No One’ was actually written by living legend, Paul McCartney.
And here Paul is.
Singing it for others.
For one of the very first times.
Strumming his guitar.
And mouthing the french horn part.
Lovely.
Go here: https://www.50odd.co.uk/living-legend/.
Lorde.
On Later with Jools Holland.
In 2013.
Performing ‘Royals’.
Is uniquely.
And single-mindedly.
Brilliant.
Play loud: https://www.50odd.co.uk/lorde/.
If you are worried about the world.
Worried about how we treat each other.
And worried about how we treat it.
This is a good song to listen to.
As you pause.
And ponder what we all could do to make things better.
Antony and the Johnsons.
I find most music by Antony and the Johnsons very thought provoking.
Because each time she sings.
It’s like she is telling me how she feels.
I feel like this about a song called ‘Another World’.
Live.
Here’s a live version
From 2009.
https://www.50odd.co.uk/another-world/
I thought this chappy was good at The BRITs.
Not necessarily for anything political.
Or sensational.
Music can be (and has been) used for this kind of messaging for decades.
I simply thought this was a smart piece of work.
Nicely conceived.
Well executed.
So.
Mr. Dave.
Thank you.
Here we go: https://www.50odd.co.uk/dave/